HishyQuinn Romance Series Oomans!
by LittlePrincesstrucking
Summary: The 3 part book that you have recently discovered has been reformatted for Earth Viewer Technologies courtesy of the Ocean Hish Clan Multimedia Department.  Thank you and continue to have a nice day.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Predators, nor any of its franchises, please enjoy this story in the spirit in which it was written. I can only claim credit for the personalities of the original characters that I have created as supporting actors in this comedy of a tragedy.**

The book is in three parts. Part First is the story, which you are currently reading.

Part the Second is the character cast, found here -

.net/s/7293312/1/HishyQuinn_Romance_Novel_cast_of_Characters

Part the Third is the recipes, which can be found here -

.net/s/7293307/1/Hishyquinn_Romance_Recipes

Thank you for your patience. All reviews minus flames are most welcome.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1<p>

There is an eroticism in nature, one that instead of closing ones mind to the world around you, rather opens the mind to new things. Things that one would more often than not, even consider, let alone think about. For nature has a way of speaking to the soul not just about the simple basic violence of survival, but the calm and gentle necessity of actually living life. In nature, even the predators take a day off, and if one is open to the gentle calm voice of peace, one will actually be lucky enough to see the lions sleep with the gazelles.

* * *

><p>For Isabella, nature began to speak to her in a soft and gentle way. It started out innocently enough, the soft smell of the rich warm earth, the gentle kiss of sun and shade as it dappled through the trees, the teasing perfume of the breeze, opening her eyes, she saw the soft curves and suggestive whorls of the bark on the trees.<p>

* * *

><p>For Royce, however, nature was practically screaming at him, not because he hadn't noticed Izzy as a member of the opposite sex, but because Royce was one of those people, who only looked at the world from the perspective of how it benefited him. Today, tho, he was having a hard time finding something challenging to kill. Not because the opportunities presented themselves, far from it, going by his growing collection of trophies and skulls, but because every time he looked around, he kept seeing the gentle curves, and narrow hips of the wild life, coupled with the tantalizing smells of spring, leading into summer.<p>

* * *

><p>For the other visitors, this soft and gentle time, was more of getting outside and off the various ships, giving in, so to speak, to the siren call of spring fever.<p>

For one such individual, a minor Hunter, it meant taking off anything even remotely resembling clothing, and stretching his legs, becoming one with nature. For him, this was a hunting vacation that was more about simply getting out, rather than the more serious pursuits of The Hunt. Except for when it was a must, he left that pursuit to those who lived for The Hunt. Not being of the Warrior bloodlines, he was more of your average citizen, compared to the godlike Warriors and Hunters. Looking around, and deciding that nature just couldn't be ignored anymore, he dropped his clothing, and took off for a pleasant jog through the forest to be followed by a mornings dip in the pond next to a waterfall he had spotted on the way in.

* * *

><p>Looking through the world through the eyes of a sniper scope, you miss a lot of what is going on, yet the things you do see aren't always what it appears to be. And as Izzy looked through the scope of her rifle, she saw the buck naked body of a Hunter as he went streaking through the woods on his first days morning jog. Doing a double take, she quickly zero'd in on what she knew she hadn't seen, only to realize, yup, she had seen what she thought she saw! A 7.5 ft tall buck naked alien jogging through the forest complete with little water bottle, jogging sandals, and sweat bands, who was at the moment looking like some little techno office jogging geek, swilling water, high stepping in place and checking his pulse rate.<p>

"Oh my god!"she whispered out loud.

About that time Royce showed up and scared the living daylights out of her. Fortunately for both of them, "The Streak" was to far away to hear her scream, and continued on his jog to the waterfall.

"See anything interesting?" Royce asks, plopping down next to Izzy, thinking she had heard him walking up.

Recovering from having Royce scare the bejeezus's out of her while peeping at a buck naked space alien, answers "Nope, not a thing." wondering what he would say if she told him about the streaker. Decided against saying a single word, since he wouldn't believe her, or if he did, drag her into some demented hunting scheme of his to steal the alien's ship and get them off this planet.

"Oh." Royce replies, sounding almost put off. It wasn't her fault, there hadn't been any challenges lately, must be the off season, and Izzy, even tho she put up with his almost brusque attitude at times, and was a wonderful nursemaid, didn't deserve him being "Fussy" as she put it. "Thought you might have seen something, especially since things have been so quiet lately."

"Things have been rather quiet, do you think it's the off season? I mean, if the seasons follow anything like our hunting seasons that is." she replied, quickly looking thru the scope again, and was surprised to be feeling mildly disappointed that the streaker had already disappeared. Looking back at Royce, she asked "What about you? Anything interesting happening?"

Thinking about the wildlife, he replied "No... must be the off season." Pulling Izzy to her feet, "Let's go for a walk, enjoy the day so to speak."

Smiling at Royce, she agreed. It wasn't often he used the excuse of simply wanting to go exploring just for the sake of being in her company. Despite the circumstances which surrounded their arrival here, these "quiet" days were something she cherished. It meant nothing was trying to kill her.

* * *

><p>Quiet days, on earth however, were a different story for someone else. Ohni-mai really didn't believe in the dog days of summer, nor the quiet sensuality of hot sultry summer nights. Ohni was a truck driver, an over the road truck driver to be precise, and for her, every day that didn't involve actually going into a city was a "quiet"day. Unfortunately for her, this was the dead of a dry winter, and even though she had just been through the stress of downtown Detroit, Michigan traffic, picking up and dropping off to various customers, the time she most enjoyed, the soft setting of the sun, where daytime traffic gave way to the quiet of night-time travel, had begun.<p>

She looked out of the windshield, enjoying the forested countryside which always amazed her. It was amazing simply because from one minute to the next, one literally traversed a hidden line from countryside to cityscape and back again. From noisy cars and honking horns, to crickets and fireflies.

Sighing, she had just made room on her lap for her traveling companion, Rambling Rose, a domestic tiger and leopard striped and spotted tabby cat, when the snow began to gently fall. Slowing down, to allow for the unexpected 4 wheeler who decided to pass "The Big Truck" only to get bogged down in the soft snow and slush because their vehicle didn't weigh as much as hers, she settled into the zahzen of sitting while driving meditation, which allowed the long empty hours and miles to seemingly roll away in mere minutes. To her surprise, the snow actually began to grow thicker, rather quickly and traffic began to pick up, which it always did whenever inclimate weather began.

Turning on the wipers, she wondered once again about the accuracy of the weather report, since there wasn't supposed to be white out conditions, let alone snow, in fact, it was supposed to be raining at the moment. Pushing Rose off her lap, and ordering her to the sleeper as a "good baby", Ohni slowed even further as traffic suddenly began to clump around her. This also never failed to amaze her, how cars could have an entire 4 lane interstate highway to spread out on, yet always clumped around the "Big Trucks". Then all she saw were brake lights as everyone slammed on brakes in an instinctive response to stop immediately, everyone forgetting about road conditions, instead thinking about scratching paint and insurance policies, while trying to avoid the minor fender bender of the two vehicles that had clipped each other, causing a spin out.

Guiding her fully loaded truck over into the side, Ohni barely had time to register someone suddenly appearing in the median, before she found herself having to make the decision between parking on top of a family in a sedan which cut in front of her to avoid hitting another car, or killing the person who had suddenly appeared in her front space cushion. For even as slow as she was going, the impact to the human form across the front of such a heavy built vehicle was just as deadly as it would have been getting hit by a car traveling at 35mph.

She chose to avoid both and park the truck in the trees, even as the first sounds of metal on metal from a chain reaction spin out wreck began to take place. It was the last thing she remembered, as the front end of her truck collided with a rather conveniently large tree, stopping 76,000 lbs of tractor-trailer traveling at 45 miles an hour, which resulted in her head hitting the steering wheel as her seat belt failed to lock fast enough to stop her forward momentum. Sometimes, being 5'2", and weighing less than a single set of chains for a single dual tire set was more of a detriment than an advantage, especially when it came to truck seat belts.

As for the Warrior, caught like a deer in her headlights, she had narrowly avoided, he learned a whole new meaning to the flash back lessons of his childhood, when his mother would tell him to look both ways before crossing a landing pad,.. the same concept applied to earth roads... luckily, he also learned one can bounce down the side of a slow moving trailer and not get sucked under the rear tires coming out the other end as a little green grease spot on the byways of earth.

Well, he would have to wake up first to learn it, since he knocked himself out on the front rounded edge of the trailer before bouncing like roadkill Bambi down the side. Today, was not his day to gloriously die in battle.

His 'hunting companions', who were being paid to "Gather" humans for a private hunt, thought it was hilarious, and after he regained consciousness, teased him about being "Space Kill". Suffice it to say, there were several good natured shoving matches, and a few not so good natured challenges regarding the worst of the "Space Kill" jokes.

Taking the humans previously picked out, and snatching Ohni and her cat, as an added bonus, the "Gatherers" quickly took off. The "Customers" were not the sort of Hunter/Warriors, one made wait. Especially after being hired. The Hish, never were. For to them, "The Hunt" was more religious, rather than simply Honorable.

Honor was gained both through the hunt for trophies, and through "The Hunt", which decided fates of individuals, clans, and families.

Due to a slight difference in language differences, much like British English compared to American English, the clan hunt, had been misinterpreted to be "The Hunt", the difference between honorable kills and simply leaving nothing alive. Hence those which shouldn't have been taken, were taken, not just those which could offer a challenge to the Hunters. This would cause difficulty later, especially for the "Gatherers" who due to the behavior of some towards the intended "Prey" would become prey themselves in the form of Bad Bloods.

* * *

><p>On Board the Ocean Clan Hish primary vessel, spring fever and the need to breathe non-recycled air, not to mention stretching ones limbs, was slowly infecting the clan's top Warriors.<p>

From Honorable Ancient Ocean, down to his offspring Honorable Firstborn Elder Ocean Ahnahn, through his offspring Honored Second as Firstborn Outside Blooded Warrior Elite Ocean Ahnk Ahnahn and Honored Firstborn Blooded Warrior Elite Ocean Wave Ahnahn, to Wave's offspring unblood Fifth Offspring and Firstborn Ocean Pearl Wave Ahnahn, and his uncle, second born of Ancient Ocean, Honored Second as Firstborn Outside Honored Blooded Warrior Elite Ocean Uhlsa.

This infection of the spirit spread to Ahnk's and Wave's cousins, Honored Blooded Warrior Veteran Tammahry and Honored Blooded Warrior Veteran Tavahree, and their friend Honored Blooded Veteran Sham, who couldn't resist calling his friends, the cousins, Honored Blooded Warrior Elites, Hawk, Claw and Paya, who received permission from their sensei, the Honored Ancient Warrior Mindbender, Cetanu, to join their friends on this little shinding, since it would get them out of his hair for a while.

Not that he didn't love his students, but at his age, having some quality time with a willing she was more important than breaking up scuffles over other peoples breathing. And where those 9 Hish versions of the Human 3 Musketeers got together, trouble was sure to follow. Honored Ancient Ocean agreed.

In fact, a good human trophy hunt beat trying to find a suitable planet to let a small hard meat hive grow just to send those 9 twits to simply for shits and grins. Especially since Pearl wasn't old enough to go on his Chiva, and he was still learning how to hunt. As for the 9 peas in a pod, it wasn't unheard of for them to go in one side of a hive, come out the other, only to turn around and go back in again, because "Somebody" forgot to kill the queen and bring out the skulls. "Somebody" usually meant all of them.

Sham particularly liked the idea of going to the Hunting Planets, to hunt humans, or to hunt anything else for that matter, and it had been he, who had made the arrangements with the "Gathers", for this spring fever trip was an excuse to get everyone off the ship and out of each others hair regarding breathing, or nagging ones parent regarding who his sire was.

And with 9 "Teachers", it wasn't like Pearl could get into any serious trouble, and with all being either Elite or Veteran, he was more protected than if this was his Chiva training. So, once Sham received the go ahead from the "Gathers" that the Humans had been gathered and were now on the way to being deposited on the Hunting Planets, he let everyone know.

Cetanu and Ocean decided that the Twins and Triplets needed some very serious comforting, and pawned the Clan's audits and paperwork off onto Elder Ahnahn, who decided paperwork was more important to getting done, and sent his polite regrets to Sham, which left the 9 musketeers and Pearl to go hunting.

And since this was Pearl's first hunting trip, not to mention his first trip ever off ship, having been born and raised on the clan's primary Jag'd'ja'atoll, convincing him he didn't need to pack the entire ship because the kitchen sink was already on the 10 man hunting skiff, didn't take quite as long as it did unpacking all the unnecessaries out of his gear bag. He still managed to smuggle his electronic collection of romance novels and the Hish equivalent of an mp3 player on board, which were subsequently confiscated by Wave, who got caught by Ahnk, while reading them while sipping some bubbling cn'lit in the weapons locker room, Wave forgot to bring enough tissues and his sniffles gave him away.

Sometimes being a closet romantic while being an open erotic with the reputation of being the clan's slut sucked sometimes, especially when getting caught by your equally openly erotic yet straight laced brother, whose idea of romance had been visiting the geisha houses of Earth's Japan. Uhlsa still hasn't come out of the closet for either one yet.


	2. Chapter 2

While this was going on, Royce and Izzy had stumbled across something on their walk, which, while it was different to say the least for Royce, actually brought comfort to Isabella. It was the annual display of public punishments. A reminder to the public that despite the vastness of lawless space, Law and Order were still very much alive.

The display began simply enough with the area of display being marked with all clan warning poles and crest flags, with the host clan's markers being more predominate compared to the guest clans. The primary clan putting on this years display, was the Shogunate Warrior Clan, lead by The Shogun. An yautla clan of single sex live bearers, who had non-violence treaties with the live bearing mixed sex and hermaphrodite sexed Ocean Clan. The Shogun had often hunted humans on earth, and had become influenced by the ordered life of the Japanese Shoguns, and those who were protected under him.

Surprisingly enough, this ordered existence didn't interfere with the Warrior life style of his own peoples, and instead actually supported the clans infrastructure, enabling this small clan to have Honor and Political power it would not have otherwise enjoyed. It didn't hurt either, that due to the clan's close proximity to Hish Space, that it had a non-violence treaty with Ocean Hish Clan, which although was a much larger and stronger clan, had offered the treaty rather than simply absorbing the much smaller and at the time of negotiations, struggling clan, claiming its space, people and grounds as its own. The Ocean Hish Clan believed that charity in the form of helping those in need, was next to Spirituality. Honor, Honesty and Integrity being the other 3 virtues of sentience. Without those, their people were no better than the beasts that the Warriors and Hunters hunted.

For Royce and Isabella, it offered a rather unique look into the mind of the monsters that hunted them. And as Royce wore the armor and mask that had been given to him out of charity, he was able to read aloud to Isabella the red warning ribbons hanging from the black and red skull bedecked warning poles.

"To all who enter these hollowed grounds, no violence of any sort shall be visited upon another, upon pain of death, by law, as enforced by the Arbitrators and Clan Shogunate." Royce read aloud, while holding onto Isabelle's hand. "The path to righteousness and lawfulness begins through the gates of death." he continued. "I wonder what that means." looking over at Izzy.

Looking down, Izzy saw a ribbon lined pathway, leading between the Red Marker Poles. "It's a public display of some sort." she replied, suspecting that this might be something she was familiar with, having grown up in a predominately Muslim world, "Have you seen a public display of justice before Royce?" she asked, wondering if he might become upset at what he might see. "Although such displays are considered barbaric or even sadistic by non-muslim dominated societies, the actual crime rate is a lot lower than the gathered statistics showing violence towards citizens."

"No, I have only read about them, having never had the opportunity to actually observe one, why do you ask?" he replied.

"I know such displays aren't as common in our modern society as it used to be, so I didn't know if you would become upset. Sometimes such displays can be rather, gorey, to those who aren't used to them. Much like seeing your first public execution as a witness. Please don't try to help anyone you see, the punished aren't like the one we tried to help, and I don't want to die today." she replied.

Royce smiled behind the mask, "I won't Izzy, I promise. Besides, if this is a display of Law and Order, it means we might have a chance to argue a case to go back home to Earth." Royce reminded her, knowing it would give her some small hope, even if it was a false hope.

Smiling, Isabella waved her hand forward "Lead on through the red lined road oh great Hunter of Mine." Deep inside, she appreciated Royce's attempt to comfort and offer hope, yet she had already consigned herself to this living death, irregardless of the promise of redemption for past sins committed.

And so he did.

The first display wasn't to far inwards from the entrance poles, and as Royce read aloud the crime of the Rapist, along with his judgment, Isabelle publicly denounced the criminal in the more traditional way of a woman giving voice on behalf of his victim.

"This unworthy male had been found guilty of the crime of forced breeding with an unwilling female. His punishment is to be branded as a Bad Blood, and to halt any continuation of his line, castration is his judgment." he read, "Bad Blood must be their word for Rapist." Royce added.

It didn't hurt that the criminal, while being tied by the hands and feet, spread eagle B'ketween two poles, had been castrated in such a manner, that he was still conscious. And although neither could understand his begging them for help to die or the mercy of death, rather than the shame of life, the cloaked Arbitrators allowed Isabella her voice. Recorded and translated for a report to the Shogun regarding the presence of two Prey to the Arbitration Display. For to them, crimes against women were a disgrace to societies as a whole. And the humans presence here meant that the species might not be as lawless as mindless animals as once thought. Although once she picked up the traditional beating stick to shake at the "Disgrace of a Man", one did uncloak in front of Royce and gently motioned for them to move onward, as a test of the Lawful sentience of the 2 humans present.

Startled, Royce, with some trepidation, and desperately trusting in the Red Ribbon of Protection for all who entered, lightly grabbed Isabelle's arm, and began to tug gently as he tried to walk forward. "Umm, Izzy, perhaps we should be going."

"Huh, Oh!" glancing over and seeing the uncloaked version of the Law. "Okay, sorry I was taking so long, such sorry excuses for manhood always get me worked up." turning in Royce's grasp and walking backwards while still shaking the stick, she continued to hurl a few more choice epitaphs at the Rapist, before dropping her stick and walking forward with Royce.

The second display, Thieves, although no-one was on display, had various limbs, set out upon a table.

"These are the thieves." Feeling more and more hopeful by the minute, She pointed out to Royce, who read aloud the red ribbon of judgment.

"For the crimes of stealing property, trophies, and ignoring repeated warnings to turn from such lawlessness, the following limbs were removed from those unworthy to call themselves Hunters, Warriors, Citizens. These Bad Bloods are not sentenced to death, and will have the opportunity to regain honor, if not positions, in society." looking at Isabelle in surprise, "Looks like my earlier assumption of Bad Blood being an identifier of a criminal, is instead the word for criminal."

"I wonder if they punish those who hurt children." she mused aloud, before looking to Royce. "At least we know what the word for criminal is. Do you think that is why we were brought here? Because we might have been mistaken for our societies version of Bad Bloods?"

"As much as I want to agree with you Izzy, I don't think that's why we were brought here. Remember, those who hunted us, considered it almost a sport." Royce replied. "Lets continue before we upset the Law with over staying."

"Ok' she replied.

The third display, was rather upsetting to both of them, not so much in that it was a display of the law of the Servant, so much as it involved a child.

"To those who stand as witness, this young one is being punished for the crime of running away from his master. While his family has been punished, for one as young as this, should never be sold into indenture, poverty and the opportunity of a B'ketter life led the family down the wrong path. Be it known to all who stand witness, that the punishment of a servant who flees, is 200 hard lashes with the whip, the court has taken into consideration both the age and condition of said servant at the hands of his master, and while he is a child, reduced the sentence of 200 lashes to 20 lashes, of which 2 soft lashes were gently served. The child will be reintroduced to society as though his crime had never taken place, and his contract for employment and skill instruction is open for anyone who will take it upon himself or herself to provide a stable and caring environment, while providing said child with the rights to learn a skill to support himself as required by law. His contract is for 7 years, upon which time, the child will have earned enough money to begin life as a productive member of society, along with the required notice of completion of age, to begin training for the trails of adulthood." Royce read this, and at the end, removed his helm to B'ketter see the child.

The young one, although chained to a post by the wrist, had been allowed the small comfort of being allowed to sit upon a hide upon the ground. Silent tears slid down his face, and although he looked up in surprise, and not a little fear towards the two humans, which to him had up until now, been the stuff of nightmare stories told to bad children, couldn't stop a soft sob, and both Royce and Isabelle wrapped him in a hug, offering to him the only source of solace that they could. It hurt each to the depths of their heart, that neither had the means, nor the funds to free the child, nor raise him, who was all of 10 earth years in age.

"Don't cry small one, the court won't let you go to a bad master." Izzy murmured, wiping the child's tears away gently, allowing him to cry on her shoulder. "I'm sorry we can't take you with us."

"Stay strong, for although you are being punished, you did the right thing by standing up against a tyrant." Royce spoke, gently squeezing the child's shoulder. Both having risked the punishment of the Arbitrator by offering this physical comfort to one so young.

No such punishment appeared, and after they were gone, the one guarding the child, gently explained that the "Humans" were honored Prey, and had they had the means, might have been able to purchase his contract, and perhaps begin his training as a future warrior. The child endeavored to be more braver in withstanding his punishment, which earned him a gentle reassuring shake on his shoulder from his guard.

Behind the child, and out of his sight, the remains of his master were to be found as the display of One Who Preys Upon The Weak.

"For the crimes of preying on those who were weak and helpless, stealing money justly earned, and murder of a child, in the presence of a child, which resulted in the servant prior seen running from his master, this One has been sentenced to death. The moneys kept are to be distributed amongst his 7 victims, with all indentured contracts going to the highest bidders of Investigated upstanding reputation, for the furtherance of skills training and a brighter future." Royce read as he and Isabelle gazed upon the dismembered corpse of what had once been the young child's master.

Neither said a word, since what words can one speak, when one can barely take care of oneself, and having served oneself or even a government, some of which preyed on those weaker? With a much quieter and more somber mood, they continued to the fourth and final display, Murder.

"For the crime of murder, the following 4 have been sentenced to death." Royce read from the ribbon on the Red and Black Pole next to the four skinned and decapitated corpses. The heads had been impaled upon spears and sat in front of the former owners. Of the skins, there was no evidence.

Isabelle spat upon the ground, "Good riddance to Bad Blood." was all she said, before spying the path, which led to the refreshment table. "Royce, all of this violence has upset me, perhaps we can find a quiet place to sit and refresh ourselves while pondering upon the weight of the law as we have witnessed." she pointed towards the tables with bags upon them.

Looking at her, Royce nodded, and led the way towards the designated area, which had small sections set up for sitting and resting.

"Royce? See which bags are ours, please" she asked, suddenly finding herself extremely exhausted. Not even thinking that maybe there wouldn't be any refreshment, so close to identical to such displays from her country, had this alien display of justice been.

Looking at her, and not having the heart to point out that neither were on earth, he did as she had bid, and was pleasantly surprised to find two bags, each with his and Izzy's name upon the tags. Carrying them back over to her, he joined her and as she opened hers, spoke, "Don't you find this just a little morbid Izzy? I mean, the refreshments, not the punishments."

"No," She said softly, "It would be morbid without the refreshments reminding us that we are still good people, and that we still live and therefore have a chance at being productive citizens, maybe even citizens in this society."

Royce gently pulled her close, his excitement at learning that the monsters were not just lawless serial killers, hunting humans simply for sport, dampened by the heartache he saw in her face. "If you don't, Izzy, then I won't either." With that he opened his bag, and spied his sandwich neatly wrapped beneath the familiar fruit of his planet.

"Trade you my "Ooman skull" sandwich for yours" he said, trying to lighten Isabelle's heart.

"No, I want to eat my "Kiahnde Ameeda skulls" she replied, trying to pronounce the words for Hard Meat drones, and giving him a half hearted smiled."trade you my apple for your orange tho."

"Ok" he replied, sipping on his juice, and nearly choking as he discovered his juice wasn't for kids. "Wow, you might want to try your juice, it's definitely a pick-me-upper." he smiled at Izzy.

Izzy did, and both grinned like little kids at each other.

And despite both being adults, each were children to the laws of the society each had just witnessed the justice of, and Royce was the youngest of both cultures represented.


	3. Chapter 3

Now you have to give the "Gathers" credit. When it came to caring for the transportation of game for hunting purposes, the group really did take excellent care of the Prey. Unfortunately for them, Rose was the sort of little girl who was used to the view at 70 mph, and even tho she had grown used to the juicy noises of bugs hitting the windshield, bird and bat brains on the other hand, still managed to upset her, especially when they would smack the windshield right in front of her little pink nose.

The first time it happened, she had spent an entire hour trying to clean said juicy dripping splat spots off the windshield from the inside. It took her "mommy" a bit to calm her down, and Rose had learned to gage anything incoming so that it didn't ruin her view. And in the case of being on board a space ship, She just wouldn't stay in one room, since the rooms reminded her of hotel rooms, the view wasn't changing. At least yet anyway.

The "Gathers" on the other hand, since she was so small, and had behaved as if they were rescuing her from the truck, soon discovered that Rose had special needs, and was not above exercising them. One such need was she must have her "Ozark" bottled water in her water dish, tap water was for the birds, two, her food must come from a bag or can and could only be "Fancy Feast" or "Friskies", unless said food was freshly cooked chicken or hamburgers, and the most important part, number three, even she needed to use the potty, which was another reason why she kept wandering off.

* * *

><p>One such poor Warrior found out the hard way, when even after crossing her legs and giving them the "I really have to go" potty dance, didn't get the hint, until he wound up ass-over tea kettle on her "little potty emergency accident". At least he got the hint of the "I know I'm a big girl, but I just couldn't hold it" look. (For those of you wondering, cat pee works like diesel on non-skid soles, you will ice skate over rocky terrain until the grease has worn off.)<p>

He also learned that even tho one can clean such "emergencies" up, no matter what one uses, if one doesn't have the right "stuff" to clean with, not even a God can get the smell of cat pee out.

Rose had also learned that the water purifier sand room, was not the worlds largest litter box either, and just like the rest of us, it was the running water that finally undid her.

* * *

><p>She was also such a good little guest that even the "Space Rats" scared her, much to the chagrin of the ships rather larger inhabitants, since none believed that rats that big could ever inhabit a space ship.<p>

* * *

><p>Suffice it to say, a side trip was made to the nearest Pet Store, where another poor lucky Warrior discovered that even tho Rose was being a good baby, she wasn't swaddled, in a carry bag, nor wearing her "Safety Gear" and howled like a suckling because the wind was blowing and she was scared.<p>

Hanging on to said Warrior for dear life with all 4 paws full of claws was a good thing in her opinion, not so good for the now scarred and blood streaked Warrior, who had to peel her literally off of him, so that she could be whisked away for some much needed pampering, much like a kindergarten student on his first day of school.

Said Warrior took a seat and waited for Rose to finish shopping. It took a while, since there was the much needed waterless bath and brushing, the "Girl Power" perfume to sample, (Rose picked out 3 different scents, including her favorite Watermelon scented "Pethead" bathing supplies), along with the nail checking and painting (she liked the rose red), then it was off to pick out her gear.

She found several bling necklaces she liked, a cute little "I'm on my day off" play dress, some "Pretty Girl"ribbons for her neck for when she wasn't wearing her necklaces, a beautiful "I'm dressing up today" dress and hat ensemble, a cute little environmental mask which was re-sized to fit her, and most importantly, her food and water, litter box along with the multi-cat super extreme clumping litter (which came with a free scooper), and her safety gear, which consisted of a walking harness and leash, plus a large over sized carry bag, she almost forgot to pick out shoes, but was quickly reminded that clean paws are next to godliness and dirty paws leave paw prints.

She even picked out the proper cleaning stuff and a few deodorizers for the ship too, Rose having picked up some of her mommy's good habits. One must never leave offensive odors, if one can help it. The orange and lime super gels were both light and floraly enough not to be offensive and left behind a fresh clean scent, that everyone would enjoy.

Their boss on the other hand, was soon to learn that "Over The Road Companions" were just as expensive as if he were raising a suckling of his own, especially after he got the bill. Said lucky Warrior did point out that his boss did state to "take her shopping", by playing the audio recording in his defense. It was the only reason he was still wearing his own head, and not having his skull adorning his boss's trophy case.

* * *

><p>While this was going on, the group of humans harvested for the Hish hunt, were themselves being split off into factions and groups, families and individuals.<p>

As for Ohni and her cat, though, someone had the brilliant idea of placing a life bond veil sealed over the lower half of her face before doping her up with enough artificial breed to knock up a sterile egg layer, and leaving her, and her cat, inside a living Veil of Protection and Teaching, with the resources for the veil to absorb to create anything her little heart desired, along with anything else she might need, except food, in a different part of the forest, close but not to close, barely within range of a hover pad bike, to where the Honored Hish were going to land.

The worse of the lot of those hired, thinking it would be fun for him and those who had "Culled" the children and helpless from the group, and dumped them into different parts of the forest, to have a little hunt of their own, since what a Hish had, everyone else wanted, even if it meant murdering what was considered by others as the Scum of the Universe.

For depending on the Hish, who would arrive, what the Hish wanted, these definitely wanted as well, and it would not be sporting to simply keep the humans, especially since this would lead to the Hish filth hunting down their clan, rather it would increase the pleasure of killing the Hish instead.


	4. Chapter 4

Now being in the woods is a lot different than being on-board a ship. One can pretty much do what one pleases without offending anyone, or getting ones-self killed. So if one wanted to indulge, irregardless of what that indulgence was, who was around to correct?

* * *

><p>Now that the Hish have landed, everyone, except Pearl, was beginning to enjoy all the "Fresh Air". Poor Pearl, having never smelled nature before, wasn't sure if the foul smells were supposed to smell that foul or if his camp mates were playing jokes on him. Looking around, He couldn't find one single clean spot to put his camping gear down, let alone where to put up his outside bed!<p>

"Honored Parent! Where are the clean spots?"

"Your standing on one!" Wave replied, pointing to the moss covered area where Pearl was standing.

"This is a clean spot?" he asked looking down at his feet in amazement.

"Yes" answered his uncle, Ahnk, tossing his hammock up into a large tree which would fit all of them for the night.

"Don't set up there!" called out Uhlsa, "You will get cold and wet after night fall. Put your hammock in the tree next to your uncle Anhk's, it will be safer from the wild life there."

"Ok!" Pearl replied, picking up his bags, and going to stand next to his uncle, "How do I get up there?" He asked looking around for the ladder.

"Climb, like the rest of us." Anhk replied smiling at Pearl. "Before I forget, I brought along a mask I want you to use when-ever your not in camp. I think your Parent brought along a cloaking mesh too."

"Oh cool! I get to wear a mask like yours and Honored Parents?" Pearl exclaimed.

"Not like ours, since ours are hunting masks, but yes, just like ours." replied his uncle Uhlsa as he walked up and jumped onto a lower branch before climbing higher. "Toss me up your bag Pearl, then just do what I did, and I will help you set up."

"Hey Tammahree! Did you bring the video camera? My mask doesn't have enough room!" yelled Tavahree at his brother, while pointing at Pearl getting ready to make his first tree leap.

"It's here somewhere!" replied Tavahree, taking a quick video of Pearl almost falling out of the tree as he finally made it onto the branch. He quickly sent his brother a text message.

***Got it! Won't that be funny for the show! How about we do a lot of Pearl, since he's never been camping before! ^.^****

***LOL! Great idea! Wonder how much trouble he can get into!***

****Alot, knowing him :)~*****

(All earth translations of above and below video and sound footage and common dialog courtesy of the Ocean Clan Hish Multimedia Department)

Both brothers laughed out loud "Good jump Pearl!" Tammahree yelled.

"Thank you Honored Warrior Veteran Tammahree!" Pearl replied and almost missed his step on the branch he was standing on, while reaching up to hand his "Outdoor Bed" to his uncle. Now an "Outdoor Bed" was a hide lined rope hammock filled with bedding, and covered by another hide across the hanging branch, which when put together, looked a lot like little lit tents or lit spider egg sacks hanging in the trees. "Whups!" he stuttered, heart racing as he grabbed a hold of the tree trunk.

"Easy Pearl, tree branches are just like walking on slightly wet metal poles because of the bark. The easy part is the walking, learning how to look up and keep your balance is the hard part." Ahnk mentored. "Look up first, then move, its more natural to how you would normally walk."

"Thank you Honored Uncle Ahnk." Pearl replied taking his uncle's advice and managed to step away from the trunk long enough to hand his other uncle his bag as well.

"Here Pearl, hand these up to your uncle too. No sense in all of us trying to hang out the tents." Claw said passing the rest of the beds up to Pearl who passed them up to his uncle.

While Claw, Uhlsa and Pearl set up the tents, Sham began to set up the drying and trophy racks and with help from Paya, Wave, Hawk, Tammarhee and Tavahree and Ahnk, the rest of the camp quickly took shape.

There was the portable solar shower, the portable compost toilet (just in case somebody, no matter how hard he tried, just couldn't make "animal tracks" in the woods), the portable cooking stove, complete with bbq grill and kitchen sink, the portable eating table and chairs, and other associated camping stuff that was actually the outdoor extension of everything on the ship, which was really nothing more than a souped up rv. For although these things were on the ship, it had been voted on that since this was Pearl's first trip, "roughing it" so to speak, would make it more memorable for him.

And as night fell, and everyone settled in, the soft sounds of nature quietly slipped in.

* * *

><p>Near to the campsite, yet hidden due to the Veil, Ohni and her cat had been gently placed in the center of the now fully charged and active biomechanoid plant. The Veils primary purpose had been to keep hatchlings safe, was now being used as a sort of living cage to prevent her escape. Unbeknownst to the "Gatherers" tho, this particular veil was also a teaching veil, and still had it's original programming and functions intact.<p>

As the Hunters left, the Veil slowly lifted Ohni and her cat, and began to extend its vines to create a floor and walls for what the computer controlling it, now considered it's charges. For although the Veil was a wonder of biological and mechanical science, it also could destroy what it's programming would consider a threat. Luckily, Ohni and Rose fit the programming of helpless, since neither were conscious when placed withing it's confines, as was programmed as proper. Young ones who were newly hatched, should never be placed in danger, but always placed in a protected environment until either old enough or responsible enough to be allowed to venture out under limited guidance.

* * *

><p>Suffice it to say, Ohni upon awakening, had some issues with not being able to leave what appeared to be a vine encrusted shelter, since each time she tried, what ever part of the machine she pushed against, became as hard and unyielding as an actual wall. It didn't help, she couldn't understand the machines constant request for her to say "Open Please". The teaching program recognized this and talked with the guardian program, which checked with the main computer, and decided that she needed some subconscious language and social programming. The guardian program also decided that Ohni also needed some much needed rest, and when she slumped against a wall in defeat, gently brushed a leaf against her neck, administering a gentle sedative, which worked rather quickly, putting Ohni to sleep.<p>

Once she was out, the Veil placed a telepathic receiver bead, a dream time teaching wave receiver bead and a modified version of the "Happy Day, Happy Slave" without the slave programming control bead in her hair. The clan bead was left blank, since it would be marked with the clan of whomever was to become her "Life Mate"

Rose received a communications bead, attached to all of her ribbons and bling, since this would help the computer to take better care of her needs, not just Ohni's, which it had now classified as a fully grown child. It would take most of the day tomorrow to create a much smaller version which could be implanted below her skin, and which would also act as tracking device and identity device.

And as night fell, the veil extended it's hunting vines, since the first thing Ohni would need upon awakening, would be nourishment. It had already absorbed and analyzed Rose's food, so that her stuff could be kept without cluttering up the living space. It even made a special room for Rose's litter box and litter, and with a full half day's charging, be able to synthesize and create everything both would need.

* * *

><p>Come morning, should anyone happen to be looking in that direction, one would see what appeared to be a beautiful flower covered clumped creeping vine, with a mix of flowers that glowed in the morning light, as the solar power collectors began to collect energy. It even emitted the scents of hyacinth, hydrangea, morning glory and honey suckle with a light lily to the mix. The guardian program had decided that the area was not safe, and that these pleasing scents, along with the night time corpse scent of its hunting vines, would create a more protective environment.<p>

All over the forest, and on the other two planets, people began to settle for the night. The morning would bring a whole new adventure.


	5. Chapter 5

For some, in the not so distant future, while in the same space, morning brought a rather nasty surprise of it's own. For Machiko Noguchi, her world was about to take a spin on the wild side.

The day had started off pleasantly enough, memories of past glories of the pack, finding herself waking up sane, regrets, ect. The scar from where her blooding mark had been burned away, now a faint reminder of just how hard she had crashed, no longer brought with it private shame. The world that she lived in now, running a Human Hunting Planet, brought in enough money to keep her satisfied, and able to go exploring with a ship of her own, which brought her back to the present predicament she was in. Instead of taking that vacation off planet, she had decided to stay behind, and now was captive to a bunch of Pirates.

Bound rather suggestively, and tied for easy use, gagged, she could only glare at her capture, who leered down at her gloatingly as he removed his lower garments from his rather un-endowed masculinity. It would have been rather funny, if the alarms hadn't gone off again, making her wonder what was happening now!

Now, how-ever, was something a rather small, yet large alien, nicknamed "Shorty" was wondering. How did so many stinky humans manage to take over the command post of his nemesis's hunting planet, he would never know. Why he was there, well, it was to negotiate a Hunt on the planet, that didn't involve Humans, but Hard Meat instead, negotiate, rather than flat out do it, since she had earned her honor back, but had not yet regained entry into a clan. Some still considered her to much of a hothead with bad blood tendencies to risk taking her on outside of the traditional woman's role.

Pounding down the halls, his mind wandered briefly back to when she had called him a human lover and wanted to sire her kids, which, now that he was a lot older, and his gonads actually worked, and he actually knew what to do with that thing hanging in between his legs, actually brought a grin to his face instead of disgusting him, at it had when he had been still a child.

His scanner picked up signs of 2 humans in the room ahead, one armed, one female, and he hit the door hard enough to knock it off it's hinges. Only to come to a dead screeching stop, at the scene before him. Speak of the old battle axe, and whelp, there she was. Rather nicely displayed, and definitely looking hot all helpless. Her attacker on the other hand, Shorty almost busted out laughing. And who could blame him, if he simply turned around and walked away. She had tried to kill him twice already.

* * *

><p>Machiko couldn't believe it when the door burst open, and of all people to be standing there looking ready to laugh at her predicament, was Shorty. Didn't he know how to stay dead? And as the thought crossed her mind, his spear pinned her would be attacker to the wall. Purring happily, he even had the audacity to saunter over, grabbing his crotch like he knew he had something in there, lean in real close, and while giving one heck of a seductive stroking caress, inhaled deeply, paused dramatically, and said "Mo." before cutting her mostly loose, and dragging her still tied form from the room, where both of them almost plowed into Topknot, who was following Shorty down the hallway.<p>

Taking a look at Machiko's current state of dress, Topknot couldn't help smarming off himself. "You sure you really want that woman? She does like trying to kill you."

Smiling behind his mask, Shorty couldn't help replying, "Why not, it isn't like she can go anywhere at the moment." Which while bringing snickers to her former leader, brought some rather nasty epitaphs to her conveniently gagged mouth.

"Did you hear something, I could have sworn she said "Shorty is God in Bed." Shorty smart sassed, while getting a tighter grip on Machiko to keep her from kicking him with her bare feet.

About that time, a pirate idiot took a potshot down the hall, which had Topknot and Shorty hauling butt back into the room with Machiko in tow. "Ayeeps!"

"Don't think she's going to object to a little Ooman Hunting today!" Topknot said while sending a pulse burner shot down the hallway. "Time to go! We don't have all day!" And with that, they took off back down the hall, Shorty carrying Machiko over his shoulder as though she were the spoils of the day.

Ahhh, the joys of being able to capture ones nemesis while she was on a sane day. Shorty couldn't resist a slap across her rather ample behind, as he followed Topknot out of the building and towards the waiting scout vessel. "Look honey! It's our honey moon ship!" he just couldn't resist commenting, as he heard her muffled barb.

* * *

><p>And with a rather squirmy Machiko in arms, he and Topknot dove for the pilots chairs and began a rather hastey takeoff. "Now you just sit right there and relax and let ol' Shorty fly this here craft." he smarmed, as the engines kicked in and the small craft shot for the stars like a rocket with a jet rammed up it's rear end.<p>

"Weee!" sassed Topknot as everyone was slammed back into his chair. "Hang on honey! We are outta here!"

Fortunately, Machiko was still gagged.

* * *

><p>Now when you are a toddler, armed with a sippy cup and a clean diaper, the world is your play ground, at least until the sippy cup runs out, or that diaper gets irritating. In the case of little Mikey, it was the empty sippy cup that finally brought his adventure to an end. Turning around, he couldn't see his mommy, so, doing what all toddlers do, he took in a deep breath and began to scream for attention.<p>

Unfortunately, this instinctive yell for attention, brought with it attention of another sort. That of what remained of the dog pack from the Hunting group, Royce and Isabelle had taken out. It also caught the attention of "The Streake". And as little Mikey began to wander away from where he had initially started yelling, having seen a pretty butterfly, the dogs and a now dressed Streake began to move towards him.

* * *

><p>The sweet joys of waking up in a happy day mood... for Ohni-mai, the morning was filled with gentle music and the light sounds of bird calls. Being dressed in her indestructible little girl clothes, complete with Happy Day makeup and glitter, she sat down at her table and began to enjoy a wonderfully prepared breakfast of meat. Rosey also enjoyed her little sit down meal of kitty kibble, and then it was coloring time, play time, to be followed by language time.<p>

* * *

><p>For Pearl and the musketeers, the morning began with a beautiful serenade to the rising sun by Wave, followed by a rather hearty breakfast tossed together by Sham, who had been sneaking beans out of the can, and as the adults began to plan out the days hunting, Pearl decided it was time to take a quick shower.<p>

So grabbing his little shower kit, and wearing nothing but a towel and flippy flops, he pranced his way over, calling out first dibs on the water. Much to the snickers of the adults.

* * *

><p>For Royce and Isabelle, the morning dawned bright and beautiful, the pale pinks of the rising sun, coupled with the faint sounds of a beautiful heartbreaking operetta, woke the two of them in a gentle and loving frame of mind.<p>

Taking time over breakfast to simply enjoy the atmosphere, both looked up at the sky, marveling at the wonder of nature, that had put 3 planets in such close geosynchronous orbit, that while sharing atmospheres, the gravitational pulls didn't tear the planets apart.

Royce decided he wanted to go fishing, and after grossing Isabelle out with a couple of juicy night crawlers, grabbed his fishing pole, and took off before she started to throw things at him, just like a typical girl.

* * *

><p>For the rest of the humans brought here, the new day dawned with both horror and awe. For some, the horror began with their own kind, and the dog eat dog mentality of "Only the Strong shall survive", in this case the strong being those who were actually armed, while the "Weak" were the women, children and anyone who wasn't the individual with a gun.<p>

Sadly, little Mikey's parent's were mixed up in the wrong bunch, and while his mommy was taken by a bad man, his daddy didn't have time to run very far, before he lost his life.

Unfortunately, this type of typical human post apocalyptic survivalism, caused more harm to the Prey, than the Hish ever would.

* * *

><p>Had anyone continued to watch the stars up above, a rather strange occurrence would have been noted. It began innocently enough with a slight change in the planetary atmospheres colors, the sudden gathering and disappearance of storm clouds, distant ripples not unlike that of a shift suited Hunter moving, distant flashes of light in amongst the stars...<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

In what is now the not so distant future, as the small scout craft now containing Topknot, Shorty and Machiko, broke atmosphere, heading towards a much larger cloaked vessel, the Pirates on ground had finally gotten a message off to the pirates still in space to start shooting at the little ship.

Pirates, being pirates, often don't think about the consequences of blowing things up, and when it comes to the storage of stolen booty, the consequences of having something that should have been kept in a containment field, even if it wasn't operational, out of said containment field, near a stable, mapped wormhole, could indeed bring Murphy's Law into effect, especially when one engages in a firefight with another vessel.

And so it was, as the little scout ship began to take evasive maneuvers from a now shooting pirate vessel, Topknot's ship began firing back at the pirates, and, well, that thing that should have stayed in a containment field, suddenly took a hit as Topknot's crew missed the engines, and started a whole new chain reaction of consequences.

The first being that the Thing, was actually a prototype slip-warp drive engine, with an antimatter fuel starter core, which just went boom, causing a malfunction to the primary drive engines of the pirate vessel, which caused a flux in the ships shielding, which caught the scout vessel on the way by, knocking it on a magnetically polarized boosted course straight for Topknot's ship, which had just boosted it's forward shielding to prevent warpage of any gravitational flux's to their ships engines, which caused the little scout ship to bounce like a ping pong ball off of the Hunter vessel, and send it spinning out of control straight for the wormhole.

And as the pirate vessel went boom, the boosted energy from the matter and antimatter, slammed into the little scout ship like an oversized turbo boost up the rear end straightening it out just in time for the occupants to again start screaming with eyes wide open this time, as their little vessel now hit the opening of the worm hole like a greased pig going downhill in an equally greased pipe, on a slalom course of a devil's roller coaster ride!

Well, that much energy out of control had to go somewhere, if not through time.

* * *

><p>And as Streake reached little Mikey, snatching the child off the ground, and leaping for the upper branches of a tree, just as the wild feral dogs burst into the clearing where he was standing, and Isabelle walked into the clearing containing the solar shower, which had a naked Pearl, complete with pimple stepping out, Royce caught the biggest fish he had ever seen in the river, and Ohni-mai actually got the door to the Veil to open, and the musketeers looked up at the sky due to a sudden gathering of clouds, the scout vessel popped out the other end of the now newly formed, unmapped, and what would have been an unstable wormhole, now stable, in a bright and gloriously beautiful explosion of silent color, that kicked up a storm on all three planets!<p>

* * *

><p>"!" talk about a ride!<p>

"Good thing she's still tied" sassed Topknot to Shorty.

"You just had to remind her didn't you." Shorty grunted trying to get a now clinging Machiko to let go of his neck.

"MMMFFFPHT!"

"Mo dear! I like it when you can't talk." Shorty grinned, pulling the gag off after giving up on the now iron bars of her arms, followed by a quick kiss which got her to let go in surprise. "Now I can breathe!" he sassed.

"YOU KISSED ME!" she yelled, making Shorty wince.

"I'll gag you again you keep yelling at me!" he threatened, as Topknot gave her rear a quick grab, which caused her to jump up against Shorty. "Ieep!"

"Oops, thought that was Shorty." he sassed, grinning at Machiko who couldn't help but glare at her former Leader, now human napper.

"Do I even want to know what brought the two of you to my planet?" she asked.

"Mope, not anymore." he replied.

"Oh look Ma, we're not in Hunter Space anymore!" Shorty couldn't help stating the obvious as he rather enjoyed the feel of a female in her predicament.

Machiko couldn't help but look. "Oh no!"

"You think?" said Topknot as the ships alarms went off, warning everyone of impending doom as the little vessel hit the combined outer atmospheres of the three planets.

"Prepare for landing!" Shorty yelled, as he and Topknot began to try and fly what had now become a solid brick in for a landing.

"Oh god, I'm gonna be sick" Topknot said looking a little too green around the gills.

"You better not get sick on me." Machiko replied pressing hard up against Shorty.

"Yeah, what she said." Shorty sassed grabbing the secondary yoke controls, as the bottom suddenly fell out.

"Oh c'jit" all three said, and free fall has now begun.

* * *

><p>Which is exactly what Pearl is now thinking as he stands just outside the shower, soaking wet, in his flippy flops, with a gigantic, enormous, pulsating volcano of a zit on the front of his face, staring at a fully clothed human with bumps on it's chest! He wasn't the only one in shock.<p>

Isabelle didn't know quite what to make of her current predicament. Not only had she blissfully walked into a Hunter's Camp, she caught a rather obvious juvenile coming out of the shower, and as her eyes locked onto his horror stricken face, her eyes widened as she saw his zit!

"Don't look at it!" she thought to herself, as Pearl without looking grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself, all the while trying to pretend that he was used to getting caught by females, coming out of the shower naked with a ginormous zit on his face.

Quickly trying not to look, she glanced up, and with that clue, Pearl took off, trying to hide his zit, while keeping the Human from seeing the cracks of his shiny hinney on the way past, flippy flops a squeaking.

And as he quickly disappeared behind some bushes, and Isabelle starts to dart off, it didn't take a translator to decipher Pearl's tone of voice as he yelled.

"Oh My Gawd! She Saw My Zit!" rapidly followed by "Oh My God! She saw me naked too!"

Isabelle couldn't help but start snickering. It wasn't the first time she had caught somebody his age with a zit coming out of the shower. The last time had been her sister's younger cousin's older brother!

* * *

><p>Royce on the other hand, was almost in tears. That beautiful giant enormous wide mouth bass had snapped his line just as the world flashed with bright lights, and got away...<p>

""NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he cried as the fish got away.

It was his cry, that led Isabelle straight to his side. "Anything interesting happening?" she said rather breathless.

"It was this big!" Royce said in shock, turning towards her, his arms spreading wider the more he talked.

"What was that big?" she asked, having never seen someone fish.

"My fish! It was ginormous!" he cried, tears in his eyes.

"A fish?" Isabelle asks sceptically.

"Uhhuh" Royce sniffed.

"That big?" opens her arms out as wide as they could go.

"...and it got away..." he replied letting go with alligator tears.

Isabelle wasn't sure whether she believed him or not, until "Jumper" showed himself in a beautiful display of jumping brassy fishiness.

"seeee..." he pointed out, just as the wind suddenly kicked up with a howl. Izzy refrained from saying anything.

"What the!" both said, quickly moving for cover.

* * *

><p>Which is precisely what Streake says now that he realizes he is holding a human suckling about the same age as his own sucklings from his 3 wives!<p>

Quickly looking about, he spies the slavering feral dogs as they now begin to encircle the tree, and like any good parent, whips out his canteen, single handedly fills said sippy cup, pops it in said sucklings mouth, and tosses the now wet and irritating diaper, right onto the face of one of the feral dogs, which causes a minor ruckus with the others of the pack, since said diaper is now stuck on said hounds spines.

He also realizes that he is also now the proud savior of a little boy. Something his wives haven't blessed him with yet.

Holding a now happy toddler who is smiling up at him, Streake begins to look for a way to take out the dogs, without scaring said infant, and provoking a whole new mess of trouble.

And as a howling blowing roar of a breeze went slamming through the trees, Streake waited until the suckling was looking over his shoulder as he took aim, and started shooting dogs like a human would shoot fish in a barrel.

"Hah! Got ya!" he thought each time his pulse blast blew a dog to smithereens.

As for said suckling, he couldn't have been happier snuggled up against a big chest, swinging in the breeze.

* * *

><p>As for poor Ohni-mai, she gets bowled over and knocked into the stream she was looking at her reflection in when the howling wind, which is now close enough to be seen as the scout ship carrying Shorty, Topknot and Machiko, come crashing down through the trees. Suffice it to say, she was no longer having a Happy Day, and as the vines from the veil came whipping out to snatch her and Rose back inside, Ohni lamented about the loss of her glitter which was now all over the surface of the water, not to mention she was all wet, and her hair was all knotted.<p>

* * *

><p>The musketeers on the other hand, got a really good glimpse of said craft, right as Pearl came bursting back into the main part of camp hollering something about humans, zits and being naked in the shower.<p>

"Crazy idiots! Don't they know this is a no low flying zone!" Paya snarled, right before everyone started hearing the sounds of tree tops snapping.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile inside said ship, "Shields up to max!" yelled Topknot as he and Shorty grunted pulling on the guidance sticks together.<p>

"Hang on, we're coming in to fast!" Shorty yelled as Machiko once again grabbed onto his neck like a five year old on his first day of school.

"We're gonna die! I just know it!" she yelled.

"Where's your sense of adventure Woman?" Shorty's reply was Machiko trying to crawl into his skin.

"No! We! Aren't!" roared Topknot as together both practically stood up bringing the nose up the hair they needed to land without killing themselves.

Back on the ground:

"Quick! After that ship!" Claw yelled, grabbing an emergency medical kit out of the RV and without hesitating, took off in the direction of the now disappearing ship.

"Stay here Pearl!" Wave commanded, as everyone took off in the direction Claw was traveling.

"BUT!"

"No Buts!"

"Now what am I going to do..." Pearl muttered wondering if humans had rabies.

* * *

><p>"What was that Royce?" Isabelle said looking over at Royce, as they picked themselves up off the ground.<p>

"I don't know, but it almost sounded like a ship." he said as the sounds of crashing trees now could be heard. "Come on, there might be survivors!"

And both he and she took off in the direction of the crash as well. The true purity of spirit does not judge in an emergency, it simply overwhelms and reacts.


	7. Chapter 7

The Streake finally looked up, as little Mikey tapped his shoulder and pointed to what was now a tree top on fire.

"Wha? UhOh!" he said, getting a firm grip on said suckling, before dropping down to the ground below, "looks like we better high tail it back to my camp and call this in." unfortunately, upon arrival back at his camp, he found out that all communications with the planets owners had been severed, and all he could receive was static. At least he found some diapers and formula for the little tyke. He also found a collapsible ship portable water bucket for fire fighting, which he blessed his wives for leaving on the ship after the last Family vacation, when one of his wonderful daughters was going through her Pyro Phase.

* * *

><p>As for the other humans in the vicinity, curiosity was taken up with the immediate planning of populating the planet with humans. For some of the more unstable of the groups, the sudden storm was considered the beginning of the end. While the escape plans of a couple of teenagers, not to mention a hysterical mom, swung into motion, the thought of actually going after a crashing space ship, for some reason didn't click into anyone's brain.<p>

Ohni-mai might have, had she not been undergoing some much needed pampering, as the Guardian program now deemed it to dangerous for her and Rose to be outside any more today.

* * *

><p>Suffice it to say, our illustrious time travelers managed to actually land the craft, without to much damage, and unfortunately, all three were now in unconsciousness land.<p>

"Are we close yet?" Isabelle whispered to Royce as the damaged trees led them closer to the crash sight.

"Almost there, judging by the damage Isabelle." he replied.

"Can you hear anything?" Hawk asked Claw, as the group moved in from the other side of the crash site.

"Mo, all I'm getting is static on all channels." he replied.

"Tammarhee, check out your masks sensors, can you see anything?" Paya requested, taking up point with Uhlsa, Wave and Ahnk.

"Nothing. What ever it was carrying, doesn't register hard meat yet." he replied, falling in with his brother, as the group reformed into Hive formation. "Not taking any chances either."

* * *

><p>"Are we dead yet?" groaned Shorty.<p>

"Mo." replied Topknot.

"At least it wasn't me ship crashing this time." piped up Machiko as she tried to move and found herself pinned rather intimately between Shorty and the crash foam.

"I'd laugh if my ribs didn't hurt." Shorty replied, discovering that he really didn't want Machiko to notice just how long it had been since he had a female.

"You two can talk about the first thing to pop up later, right now, I think we're stuck." groaned Topknot as he tried to sit up.

"Haha." replied Machiko with a raging blush on her face, having noticed something below Shorty's waiste.

"Moooo, you don't say!" quipped Shorty, as Machiko was able to shift a little bit off his lap, much to his relief.

"Oh, but I do say." smirked Topknot.

"Any idea where we are?" Shorty asked.

"Yeah," replied Machiko, "We're right here." which got some chuckles if a little strained from both males.

"At least she has a sense of humor." chuckled Topknot, smiling at both of his erstwhile companions.

Grins were his only reply.

* * *

><p>Deep within what had first appeared to be an abandoned mining vessel, ancient computers slowly began to come to life. Ancient machinery began to flicker, cough and finally splutter into life. Energy waves, gravitational fluxes, atmospheric pressures, all of these readings including magnetic polarities were analyzed, as computers began to talk to each other, checking, formulating, ciphering, until a decision was made. Ancient power cores began to slowly come to life as the computers sent out messages to themselves activating ancient protocols to protect the fragile trinary system from the incoming wave of flux energy, which was just now beginning to exit the vicinity of the newly formed wormhole.<p>

* * *

><p>Had anyone looked up, no-one would have seen from the planet, the beautiful rainbow wave of energy heading their way in a massive planet wide swathe of doom. It was also definitely growing wider.<p>

* * *

><p>On Royce's and Tammaree's masks, a soft chime alert suddenly sounded as a new graphic image popped up on the lower right hand side. To Royce, it looked a lot like the derelict where he and his group had first taken shelter at with the scavenger. To Tammarhee, it looked a lot like a planet sized magnetic gravitational shielding machine, the sort not seen in operation for eons.<p>

"Looks like something's activated the power for the derelict Izzy." Royce said.

"Uhoh! Umm Guys? We might have a problem!" Tammarhee said.

"Really? What?" said Isabelle and Tavarhee as both groups suddenly broke cover and were now facing each other with an obviously crashed ship B'ketween them.

Both groups stopped in shock, simply staring at each other as the small ship suddenly flickered out of sight and back again rapidly for several seconds, which got their attention, then began to register on both masks as if it had always been there.

"Ummm, don't make any sudden moves Royce." Izzy whispered, as her counterparts on the other side whispered the same thing.

"Huh?" Royce grunted, taking his eyes off an obvious countdown to something just as Tammarhee was doing the same thing. "That's not what I was talking about, but ok." He and Tammarhee answered his companions at the same time.

Quickly looking at each other, both groups saw that the other wasn't armed, although what a human would want with a child's hunting equipment was beyond the Hish, and as for Royce and Izzy, it was a wonderment as to why a bunch of Hunting aliens would be running around the woods wearing nothing but knee length skirts! Rather colorful knee length skirts at that. Izzy suddenly felt rather overdressed for the occasion.

Inside the ship, our erstwhile time travelers were now back to the land of nod, as the flux energy finally dissipated, placing the group more in the now, rather than space.

Wave raised an eyebrow at the obvious female human who suddenly seemed uncomfortable in her rather male clothing, and he couldn't help but smirk, thrusting a hip out to the side, as though he were obviously checking her out.

"You don't suppose their dangerous do you?" Sham whispered, not trusting himself to speak, since he hadn't expected there to be humans in the immediate area.

"No, but I get the clue that this might be the humans Pearl was babbling about." Ahnk whispered back.

The soft chimes dinged again, bringing the attention of the two masked humanoids back to the immediate readouts. Which now clearly showed a countdown to planet wide activation, and a secondary readout showing 3 lifeforms inside, still alive.

"We got something big getting ready to happen in about an hour, and there are three survivors on board." Royce and Tammarhee both spoke, almost at the same time.

Isabelle took a chance, acting before anyone else could, she stepped forward, pointed at herself, then Royce, then the ship, and held up 3 fingers, pointed to the ship again, and mimed dragging something, then pointed at the Hish.

Wave stepped forward, pointed at Isabelle, pointed at the ship, held up 3 fingers, pointed at his group, then made a motion for the two humans to take a wide berth around the ship towards his group.

"I think he wants us to come over Royce." she whispered.

"Are you sure that's wise? I mean, these guys have been hunting us Izzy." Royce whispered back.

"Yeah, I think they're here for the same reason we are, to help what ever is in that ship." she said, taking his hand.

With a nod, Royce and Isabelle, took a chance that the strangely dressed Hunters would not harm them, and indeed were there for the same reasons. To help the survivors.

The group of Hish waited, wondering if the humans could be trusted.

Once Royce and Isabelle were close enough to speak without raising voice, Royce stepped forward, pointed to himself, "Royce", pointed to Isabelle, "Isabelle", then pointed to the ship "Help". He then waited, not knowing he was holding his proverbial breathe, until Wave stepped forward again.

Wave looked at the small human male, and wondered what the smaller female saw in him, that she would feel threatened by his presence.

"Wave" he said pointing at himself, his name spoken in a soft growl, almost a hiss. "Help" he mimicked, wondering if he should have taken Earth English instead of Vietnamese. "Help" he spoke in fluent Vietnamese, wondering if the humans spoke it as well. Although judging from the surprised looks on both of their faces, he didn't think so.

Royce and Isabelle quickly glanced at each other, then almost as one, ran through every language, each was fluent at asking if Wave could understand it.

Needless to say, the Hish were just as equally surprised that the humans were actually trying to communicate, rather than pantomiming. It didn't take long for both parties to realize that sign language and names were the only means of communications since neither groups spoke a common mimicry language.

Uhlsa cleared his throat, which made every one jump, then he pointed at the ship, as if to remind them that time was of the essence.

Nodding, Royce pointed to himself, then made a palms up gesture as if to ask who would go with him to the ship. Ahnk pointed to himself, "Ahnk" then signed that the group and Isabelle would remain outside. Royce nodded.

"Stay here Izzy, I'm going in with Ahnk." Royce said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Alright." she said, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable in the presence of so many rather muscly males, even if they were wearing skirts.

* * *

><p>Motioning Ahnk ahead of him, Royce stepped towards the ship, not knowing what they would find inside, and not knowing if it would have to be mercifully put down or not. Ahnk was thinking the same thing, even as he stepped next to the human male, and both proceeded to the small ships hatch. Unlike Royce tho, Ahnk had experience in merciful endings, especially since sometimes, no matter how badly damaged, an individuals will to succeed, often kept him alive, when he should already be with the Gods themselves. He wondered if the human was strong enough not to break should there be remains that once were people on board.<p>

And as the two walked away, Wave did what Wave was known for amongst the females, and checked Isabelle out, rather obviously, and complete with a cute little wolf whistle, which Royce heard. The obvious goggle definitely got an eyebrow raised from Izzy.

As for our two heroes, fortunately, neither would be put to the test of mental endurance required concerning flux survivors. For as the hatch groaned it's way open, the cockpit could be seen from outside, and both exhaled a breathe, neither knew he had been holding. Inside, cushioned by crash foam, our time travelers blissfully snored.

Moving quickly, Royce and Ahnk, checked out what were now obviously 2 males, and a semi naked and bound, human female. This brought a chitter of curiosity from Ahnk, especially since the female was sitting on the lap of one male, with her arms draped around his neck. Which made him wonder if whether or not the two had been doing it. Looking at Royce, Ahnk pointed to the female, then Royce's mask. Grasping the idea, Royce stepped up, and let the mask tell him if the female was injured. Shaking his head no, he pointed to her, then mimed carrying her off. Ahnk nodded, then lifted Machiko off of Shorty's lap, and pointed to Royce, then the remaining survivors, before heading outside with the unconscious female.

Once outside, he carefully laid the female down on the ground. "looks like there are 2 males and this human female. I think she belongs to one of the males." he said to the group, while stepping back, allowing Isabelle to see to her. Isabelle was surprised as what the female was wearing, since the clothing didn't look anything earth made. She couldn't help but look up at the others in surprise.

"Are they one of us?" Wave asked.

"No, looks like the males are Yautja." Ahnk replied.

Wave didn't look to happy. "Alright. If she's Eta slave, we can't simply take her from them, not without a fight or payment."

Inside, Royce had scanned the other 2 survivors, and discovered that the shorter male had 3 cracked ribs, and the taller one a concussion. He was debating about whether he should simply slit their throats, when he heard Ahnk return. Looking up, he was rather surprised when Ahnk gently grasped his shoulder, and gave it a slight shake, almost as if he were reassuring Royce, not just greeting him.

Nodding, Royce timidly returned the gesture, and then pointed to the smaller male, then to his ribs, then to the taller male, then to his head. Ahnk nodded, pointed to the smaller male, then Royce, then to the taller male, then himself. Royce nodded, and stepping out of Ahnk's way, allowed the much larger Hish male to remove Topknot before he, now realizing that the unconscious male was not a lightweight, began to remove Shorty from the ship.

Once outside, the Hish relieved him of his burden, and motioning for Royce and Isabelle to follow, took up formation around all of them, and started heading back to camp, where a rather nervous Pearl had a whole lot of fun trip trapping the place, since he was there alone.

* * *

><p>The Streake, now with little Mikey in a suckling carrier, had managed to hitch up the bucket, and was now flying over the tree tops dumping water to prevent the fire from spreading. He couldn't help but chuckle each time the little tot would laugh and point, trying to mimic words, as they flew slowly over the river and trees. He idylly wondered, if he could convince his wives to let him keep the little tot. Especially if his mother was already dead.<p>

* * *

><p>The Veil meanwhile had been in contact with the planets computer which had recognized the Veils protection protocols, and although the machine was organic, had begun to take the necessary steps to protect it's charges from the sudden atmospheric changes that were about to take place.<p>

And as everyone headed back to the camps, said owners of the preserve were desperately trying to re-establish communications with the guests, to warn them of the impending energy wave and to take necessary precautions if not already on the ground.

* * *

><p>The ancient machines detecting the new communications waves, sent out the atmospheric weather control alert, warning everyone that the weather control stations were now going off line, the energy to be shunted by the computers towards the shield and rotation stabilizers. Without this control of the weather, the combined atmospheres of all three planets would soon create a phenomenon known as atmospheric breathing, which could cause sudden extreme changes in both weather patterns, as well as temperatures. The loss of the rotation stabilizers on the other hand, could tear all three planets apart.<p>

* * *

><p>Had anyone actually been looking in the direction of the old derelict, would have seen the ancient magnetic pulse control generator slowly light up like a Christmas tree in July, as it came online, a laser pulse of target acquisition for planetary stabilization for rotation sent out, answered by others from the other planets. Which sent information back to the old program, informing it to initiate countdown to system wide shielding.<p>

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for Ohni-mai, and the others already on planet, once the weather control devices went off line, the resulting windstorm would prevent any but the most fool hardy from venturing forth, and as the alerts were sent out, folks already on the ground, began to anchor lock their vehicles to the ground. While those within range of the broadcast who haven't landed already, immediately began to land, warning those further out to vacate the area. While those closest to the incoming wave, sent recording and a few hardy souls, actually ventured forth into the wave to broadcast it's destructive nature. If there were survivors, they weren't found in this time line, or region of space.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Back at the camp, Pearl was desperately locking down and securing everything he could, wishing his parent would hurry up and return, he wasn't sure whether he had routed the camps shields through the ships shield generators correctly. And just as he was about to activate them, 3 female humans around his own age stumbled into camp, stopping Pearl dead in his tracks, now he definitely didn't know what to do with 3 humans his own age.

* * *

><p>As for the Streake, who had just landed, and was removing the water bucket, one did not have to be from the same species to recognize the look of devastation on a female's face as little Mikey's mom stumbled into camp and collapsed in his arms.<p>

"Mommy!" he cried, arms raised, from the ships door. And his mom passed out.

* * *

><p>The wave continued to move in closer, and now could be seen through the atmosphere of all three planets.<p>

It's energy spreading outward, dissipating somewhat, so that when it finally did connect with the fragile system, instead of tearing the planets apart, it would hit with the force of a close solar storm.

The flux wave energy would on the other hand wreak havoc on the fragile system.

Communications would be disrupted, weather patterns quickly going haywire, and the winds from the atmospheric exchanges could and would produce some rather interesting circular wind patterns very common to earth.

* * *

><p>Before the Hish could reach camp, Topknot and Shorty regained consciousness and until both calmed down, were firmly restrained, during which time Machiko also woke up.<p>

It was Isabelle who spoke to the small Japanese woman, calming her down, who in turn spoke to her companions who nodded their understanding, and the group now began to move quickly, entering camp, just as Pearl was about to high tail it to the ship, since he figured it would be the best course of action when facing humans of ones own size. The kids quickly followed the adults as everyone piled into the now rather cramped RV, and Wave hugged his offspring, as Pearl informed him of the re-routing of the shield system.

"Good job Pearl." Wave said.

"On it!" Uhlsa replied, quickly going over the routing and activating the shielding. "We should be able to move around camp, which will leave the ship for the younger ones."

"Hi, I'm Isabelle, and this is Royce." Isabelle said to Machiko.

"Hello," Machiko replied, instantly recognizing the shock of hearing another human voice. "It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Machiko, and my companions are Topknot and Shorty." she said pointing to her former Leader and nemesis.

"It is a pleasure to meet you too." said Royce, offering her his hand to shake, not knowing if it would be rude or not to ask how she had met the other two.

Seeing the question on his face, Machiko smiled, "It's a long story about how we met, maybe when things have settled down, we can speak together of times long past."

"That would be a pleasure." Royce replied, unable to keep hope out of his voice.

Smiling, Machiko motioned over Topknot and Shorty.

"These two are Royce and Isabelle", she introduced, "Any idea's as to who our rescuer's are?"

"Hish." was all Topknot would say.

Having never heard of the Hish, Machiko looked at her companions questioningly.

"I'll explain later, right now, we are in a lot more trouble than simply crashing on a planet." he answered, not sure if he and Shorty were on the menu, or would simply be tortured and then hunted like common Prey. The humans might stand a chance as slaves, but Machiko might put up a fight, which could get herself into a lot more trouble than merely being set free to be hunted.

* * *

><p>"Please, settle down everyone!" Wave spoke up, activating the ships translator device. "We will have things sorted out shortly. Sham is preparing dinner, so the wash facilities are down the hall, on the left. Sleeping arrangements will be made after dinner."<p>

and as if to emphasize Wave's statements about dinner, Sham walked out of the small ships kitchen wearing his "Have You Kissed The Cook" BBQing apron, carrying a huge platter of meats and things to cook on the grill still outside.

Machiko and Isabelle both couldn't help but smile, and Royce, who fancied himself rather decent at the grill, offered his services to the chef.

Uhlsa on the other hand, managed to find some video games, and after setting things up in Pearl's room, left the teens to entertain themselves until dinner was ready. One of the girls actually had some acne cream in her bag, and gently motioned towards it, then Pearl, which , while this was embarrassing, he couldn't have been more grateful, and smiled as he took the proffered cream, and immediately applied it.

"Thank you." he said.

"Your welcome," she answered. "By the way, my name is Mindy, this is Cindy, and that is Karen." motioning to her companions.

"My name is Pearl." he answered.

"Do you play video games?" Cindy asked, pointing towards the consoles.

"Some, want to play?" Pearl asked.

"Sure!" Karen replied enthusiastically. " Bet I win!"

"Bet you don't!" Pearl answered, feeling much more at ease.

"Bet I do!" she said saucily.

"Your on!" he replied, handing her one of the game controllers.

* * *

><p>The others, while not wanting to cause undue worry, quietly went about trying to establish communications with either the clan ship, any ship, the Preserve's owners, or the camp nearest to their own. Streake answered back, and informed them of how he had found little Mikey, and his mom, along with the fire, which was no longer a danger.<p>

Ahnk, informed him of finding the survivors, Royce, Isabelle, and the 3 teenage human females, Streake said he would continue to see if he could reach the camp next to his, and Ahnk warned him to be careful, since he didn't know if there were armed humans in the area or not.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, one of the Gatherers, was just now realizing just how much trouble he was in. This warrior, whose only ability to become a warrior, had been due to his mother, convincing a pure blooded warrior who was injured, that she was a good candidate to have his offspring. He had agreed, and she had given everything she had, to raising Tav'ikt to become as strong and well known as his father. So for Tav'ikt, who had literally come from nothing, to having something, and now discovering, that because of his companions, he would lose everything, including his life, decided he would try to save at least one of those who should not have been gathered, from the Hunt. And while the others were busy batting down the hatches, so to speak, gathered everything he owned, which wasn't much, and snuck off the ship, with a hover pad, and braved the elements, trying to reach the area where Ohni had been left.<p>

* * *

><p>Ohni, on the other hand, was oblivious to both the approaching danger, as well as her rescuer, and was in the process of happily having fun during Creative Hour. Rose, being so sheltered as a Traveling Companion, was just as oblivious as her owner, and was quietly playing with her new stuffed teddy bear. So it came as a surprise to both her and Rose, when Tav'ikt came barging in, scaring the both of them, at which point, the Veil's Guardian Program, deemed him much to upset, and quietly went about sedating him, and placed a "Happy Day" bead in his braids, while bringing in the hover pad, complete with all of his belongings. Soon, he too was sitting happily next to Ohni for Creative Hour...the veil didn't stop him from being a little boy tho, and soon the two of them were giggling, rolling on the floor, laughing in the joys of just being kids.<p>

And while our erstwhile companions played, The Veil, while being partially organic, could also turn it's organic functions inorganic, which it did, and now the 3 of them were safer than if he or she had been in an underground bunker.

* * *

><p>Which was a good thing, for once dinner time was over, the wave struck the system with enough force, that the planetary system actually flickered disappearing from view, before the wave had finally passed. It wasn't until everyone woke, much later, and a few brave souls took off from the planet, would anyone learn, that the entire trinary group had actually moved location!<p>

Unfortunately, this had an adverse effect on the "Happy Day" beads, and while Tav'ikt woke first, he found himself in a rather scandalous position with Ohni! The cat didn't seem to care tho. The poor Veil on the other hand, was temporarily off line due to it's having taken the brunt of the solar type storm from the flux wave, which wasn't good, since outside, a battle was beginning to rage!


	9. Chapter 9

"Wakey, Wakey!" Wave said, waking up from unconsciousness with his usual perky self.

"Please tell me I'm dead yet!" groaned Shorty while trying to remove himself from what ever it was he had fallen on top of, only to get a squeak of protest when his hand found a rather soft mound of flesh. It took his brain a second or two to figure out what it was, Eyes going wide, he was now eye to eye with Isabelle!

"Please remove your hand from that organ!" she replied with a rather icey smile, "or I will help you into the after life."

He removed the offending limb as if he were dropping a rather hot rock, smiling like a Cheshire cat complete with all cuteness, until he realized he also needed to move his body too.

Isabelle got a good hint at what made him move so quickly, and couldn't help smiling female evilly.

Royce found himself in a rather strange predicament, he was face first in a plate of BBQ, while Sham was slumped over drooling on his shoulder. He did the only thing he could think of, he kissed the cook.

The resulting snore from Ahnk, however, got everyone laughing.

Looking around, Wave couldn't help but snicker at some of the rather interesting positions everyone had passed out in, that was, until he saw Pearl on the bottom of a puppy she heap, then he got a little Parental in the process. No-one was even going to be allowed to even think about making cell babies on his watch! His only response was the typical teenage groans of the offended parties as he moved the puppy pile apart.

* * *

><p>Ah, the Blip Wars. A time when men where men, and the women, well, they definitely were a lot bigger chested than Ohni. Down through the Annals of history, there was a story told, about a time so long ago, that even the hero's could no longer be named.<p>

This story, often told, spoke about two brothers, who were on opposite sides of the Blip War, a war so savage, so degrading, so horrible, that even the technology which had been used in it, had mostly been outlawed. For it was said, that such technology had torn planets asunder, and allowed the dead to walk again. And so, this war, whose beginnings were lost in the mists of time, had become a civil war, pitting brother against brother, father against son, family against family, and upon the eve of the War's greatest battle, facing each other across a barren field, the brother's faced each other, wondering if on the eve of this engagement, if this war had really been worth it. For while, each could understand the reason's of the other, those beneath them, his troops, probably could not bring it into themselves, to look past the differences of the others, and reach a compromise. So as the troops slept, each brother sought the other, and rather than fleeing from the battle, had decided that when the time came, each would blip his battalion 1 second forward in time, in the same place, and whichever side came out first, would be declared the winner, there by saving his troops from unnecessary heartache and pain, since this was the only course of action left to him. And so, on the morning of the Great Engagement, at the commands to commence attack, each prayed that the other would arrive safe, if not first, and ordering the troops to tap into the magnetic leylines of the very planet itself, gathered the energy, and blipped forward, never to be heard from again, that is until now.

Now that the flux wave had passed, causing havok with the planets magnetic poles, the troops were torn asunder from the time trap in which they had been held. And as each group appeared, only the strongest of them amongst them survived to be the victor or loser. As for the two brothers, neither had survived, having thought it necessary to maintain contact with his troops, and each other, had not taken the necessary precautions to avoid aging upon arrival. And without them to declare surrender or defeat, the remaining survivors attacked each other with weapons and suits of combat that were the stuff of fairy tales.

It was this battle raging, that caught the attention of a lone hunting vessel that had been passing through the wormhole on it's way to the planets, which were so old, no-one on board knew what the planets had once been.

B'ket could only wonder if this was another human trap, since it had not been so long ago, that his clan had barely survived the massacre of the killers the clan had sought to merge with. The losses were such, that although the males of the killer clan had been wiped out, the females had been captured, and were now nothing more than brood mares, as his clan desperately sought to re-establish enough numbers to prevent total extinction. And although his clan, had sunk to the point of even raiding for females, and some males whose genes were desperately needed, not all of the men of his clan where able to breed like mammals, while producing eggs with the egg laying females. B'ket wasn't sure if he liked the fact that he could now produce that way, since he had always enjoyed not being controlled by his hormones. His two companions, on the other hand, seemed to have no difficulty with being able to breed like mindless drones.

So thinking, he landed the ship a little ways away from the battlefield, and as he and his armored companions moved out to enjoy the hunt, Tav'ikt had finally convinced Ohni that it would be safer for her and Rose to leave with him, thereby getting them away from the clutches of the evil Hish. Not sure if this was a good idea, yet not wanting to be left alone, she grabbed the Veil, while he grabbed up Rose, and hopping on the Hover pad, took off, unbeknownst to both of them, heading straight for the battlefield, and the now hunting Egg Hish!

* * *

><p>Unfortunately, neither Ohni nor Tav'ikt were prepared for his former comrades in arms to show up. So while B'ket and his companions were now witnesses to the Earth equivalent of the Vikings against the Romans, Tav'ikt was desperately flying the hover pad trying to avoid his former comrades from shooting the both of them down.<p>

Zipping through the trees at break neck speeds, he zigzagged around large trees, dodging up and down over fallen logs and dead-falls, all the while managing to avoid the shots fired by his comrades. Ohni clung tightly to his waist, her face pressed hard against his broad back, praying that he didn't miss, and wind up killing the three of them. As she dared to glance back, one of Tav'ikt's comrades missed dodging a tree, and Ohni watched as he exploded along with the hover bike he had been chasing them on.

Glancing over his shoulder, before glancing forwards, and desperately taking the pad up and to the side to avoid a trunk fall trap, Tav'ikt got the idea to head towards the area that had been trapped by previous Hunter's. Since neither he nor Ohni had any means of shooting back, their best chance lay in using the terrain to eliminate their pursuers, and so, leaning forward, and yelling over his shoulder for Ohni to hang on, he slammed on the brakes, doubling back over their path, even as his comrades went roaring past, the bikes too slow to maneuver like the pad, which could spin in place on it's central axis.

And as he poured on the speed, the bikes caught up, and deciding not to risk shooting each other, the two remaining pursuers tried to knock the pad from the air by slamming into it. Desperately fighting for control of the pad, Tav'ikt suddenly slammed into the bike next to him, kicking out with his foot towards the steering vein on the front. Glancing ahead of them, he slammed into the bike again, this time managing to successfully damage the vein in such a way, that as he split off to the right, the other maneuvering with him, the one on his left, couldn't avoid the dead-fall, and as the bike crashed forward into it, suddenly went airborne, slamming sideways into a small tree, which was large enough to destroy the bike, sending it's rider flying into the air.

Ohni pressed even harder against Tav'ikt's back as he again turned the pad, heading back towards the area where he had avoided the swing trap, desperately hoping that his remaining pursuer didn't catch on until it was too late, since at this distance, all the Bad Blood had to do was point and shoot, and both he and Ohni would be history.

Fortunately, lady luck was with them, and as the last pursuer closed again, in an attempt to take the pad down, the two parties suddenly burst into the same clearing as the now raging battle between the remaining survivors of the blip wars, a stray shot taking out the remaining pursuer. Unfortunately, Tav'ikt and Ohni were now in the middle of the battle field, and were desperately trying to avoid being shot out of the sky, even as the pad itself, took a stray hit to the power core, sending them in a downward arc, straight for B'ket and his companions!

Seeing the pad heading towards them, B'ket used the long distance scanner on his mask to get a clear look at the rider's. A low rumble of pleasure escaped him, as his mask showed him one of the incoming passengers was female. Quickly giving the command, he and his comrades moved off to the side, cloaking to avoid detection and the pilot brought the now disabled craft in for a hard landing.

The last thing Tav'ikt could do before the pad crashed into the ground, skipping like a flat rock over water, was to grab Ohni, shielding her as best as he could, even as they both were thrown from the now completely disabled craft. Twisting in the air, he tried to absorb as much of the impact as he could, even as he lost consciousness. The last thing Ohni thought, was holding onto Rose as tightly as she could, as the whole world now went Topsy turvy, before going completely black.

B'ket couldn't believe his luck, as he and his companions moved in, capture nets at the ready, the raging battle behind them, all but forgotten, as now he had something to bring back, besides the females he and his companions had already taken, which were now kept in cages aboard the vessel.

* * *

><p>Time on the other hand, has a way of correcting itself, in such a manner, that it allows for those caught out of flow, to have adventure, even while time begins to flow correctly.<p>

For Mat'tkt, it meant being able to rescue Ohni right before she was snatched forever away from Tav'ikt. Which was a rather interesting rescue in and of itself. As for why he would even rescue Ohni, well, thumbing his tusks at Tav'ikt was something he always enjoyed doing, ever since he had found out that Tav'ikt was Pearl's Sire. Not that he would make it known, but goading his one time friend into heights of warrior like stupidity was good for the both of them.

Interesting in the fact, that the Hish he attacked outweighed him by nearly 100 pounds, and was older and more experienced. While Mat'tkt was no spring chicken himself, weighing in close to 400 lbs, and being close to 300 years old, he was still considered young by the standards of the Hish. His only ability to survive such a fight against such a male, was to literally attack as fast as he could, snatch the intended prey, and run like a bat out of hades hauling a snowball with his tail on proverbial fire! Which is precisely what he did. Good thing for him, Ohni didn't weigh very much, otherwise he might not have gotten a good head start!

To say that B'ket was bent would have been putting things mildly. It wasn't that he had literally been waylayed by an upstart hunter, it was the fact that he had not heard said upstart before getting nailed into a layer of slippery slimy clay! Now he had cold,wet, slimy clay in places he didn't even know clay could get! There was no way on God's green planets was that little c'jit going to get away with snatching a female designated for clan use! So, managing to get to his feet, and shaking out the worst of the clay from places he really didn't want to think about, since it was below his waiste, and making a smeary mess of the worst of the rest, he took off with a roar after Mat'tkt, who was currently running for all he was worth straight into the camp containing the Honored Hish! It didn't help, that Tav'ikt entered the camp from the opposite end, and spying Mat'tkt gave a challenge roar, and charged!

* * *

><p>For everyone in the camp, seeing two males barge in, start roaring and screeching at each other, before one placed what looked like a female on the ground, then charging each other, was quite a shock! At the time the two met in the middle, everyone had already started scrambling to get out of the way, while Shorty grabbed Machiko, and Wave snatched Izzy behind them, B'ket, hearing the roars of two males engaging in combat, put on a burst of speed, and came bursting into camp, just as Tav'ikt and Mat'tkt slammed into each other with enough force to make everyone wince! Looking down, B'ket spied the small female, and just as he was about to pull a snatch and grab of his own, the sound of Uhlsa clearing his throat stopped the Hish, but only long enough for B'ket to make up some story about her being his daughter, and trying to run off to avoid getting married. About that time, Ohni woke up! To say she was feeling a little breedy would have been putting it mildly!<p>

* * *

><p>As for poor Rose, watching her mom getting snatched, Tav'ikt waking up and fighting to escape two strangers, feeling like an abandoned child in the woods, suddenly kicked in! With a howl of abandonment, she took off after her mom. Sometimes, having four legs comes in handy, but when your whole life is spent on a truck, running for any distance is almost an impossibility. And so it was, she lost sight of Mat'tkt and her mommy, and was quickly passed by B'ket, both of which were running at close to 60mph each! Crying a pitiful wail, she kept going in the last direction she saw everyone taking. Being the trusting soul that she was, it was heartbreaking for her to think that she was now going to be homeless. It would be Sham who would see her creeping into camp near the empty cans of beans, wearing her "Its My Day Off" outfit, now dirty and torn. His heart broke enough to share his can and his heart with her, much to the later detriment and amusement of his camp mates.<p>

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to all currently at the camp, the roars of the combatants, had attracted something else. This something had not been seen on this planet for hundreds of years, and was known then as "Lure Meat". Lure meat looked like a cross between a T-rex, a lure fish, and a brontosaur with the insatiable appetite of a great white shark. Covered in horn like spikes from its face to it's tail, the brains of the Lure meat were actually in the little ball at the end of the tail, and not in the deer like lure at the end of it's fleshy pole. It lifted it's head and answered the cries with a challenge of its own.<p>

No-one at the camp heard it's roar over the noise of the two very irate males, and when blood was drawn, the scent of it carried down wind, straight to the Lure Meat! This tantalizing scent had the same effect on this monstrosity just as chum has on great white sharks, and with one final noisy inhale, the creature began to lumber off towards the camp, knocking over everything in its path, and making the ground thump and vibrate with each foot fall.

It was this subtle thumping of the ground that warned B'ket and Uhlsa that something big was heading their way, and as both males spun to look behind them, and continued to look up, it was Ohni screaming at the top of her lungs that got everyone moving as it roared into camp. B'ket fired a shot from his plasma caster, before diving out of the way, even as Uhlsa grabbed Ohni and jumped onto the branch of a nearby tree. Tav'ikt and Mat'tkt paused only long enough to see where Ohni was before diving out of the way just in time to avoid a snarling foaming chomping mouth! Pearl hits the door shields as he and the girls look on with absolute wonder as the rest of the camp, including Royce and Izzy begin to open fire with what ever was at hand! The humans and Hish instinctively shooting for the heart, while the plasma bolts seem to bounce harmlessly off the creatures tough exterior hide.

Screaming in rage, the Lure Meat slashes and bites at it's prey which suddenly move faster than Royce or Izzy or even Machiko had ever seen before. It was a lucky strike from Shorty's spear which was the final killing blow to the beast. Lucky since he had tried to pin the creature by the tail in a desperate attempt to keep it from killing Machiko and Izzy. It wasn't until the creature got a funny little look on its evil monstrous face, before suddenly falling forward in slow motion did any of the party realize the creature was dead!


	10. Chapter 10

Up in the tree, wrapped in the protective arms of Uhlsa, and entertaining mildly naughty thoughts, Ohni called out "Timber!" just as the creatures torso and head smack into the ground. Its little deer like lure landing right at Izzy and Machiko's feet with a ground bouncing thud!

For once in his life, Uhlsa was glad he and she were wearing the Hish equivalent of a 13th century chastity belt, because if one of them didn't have a veil on, both of them would be in deep trouble, so as Tav'ikt and Mat'tkt looked up at Ohni and a rather large protective male, both were looking down at everyone as tho both were nothing more than innocent little electric-viper cats.

* * *

><p>Mat'tkt pushed Tav'ikt from behind, before holding his arms up as if he would catch Ohni were she to jump down. Regaining his balance, Tav'ikt shoved Mat'tkt back as hard as he could, knocking the other male to the ground, even as Uhlsa carefully held onto Ohni, before dropping the both of them back to the ground. Wave and Ahnk waded into the fight, knocking both younger males apart, with Wave pulling on Tav'ikt's arm hard enough to get his attention, and with a gasp, Tav'ikt barely refrained from punching the intruder into his fight with Mat'tkt over Ohni. Mat'tkt on the other hand wasn't quite as fast, and while it wasn't the first time Ahnk had been punched in the tusks, it was the first time since Mat'tkt had been an unblood, that he saw nothing more than one well manicured balled up fist, right before his lights were clocked.<p>

* * *

><p>Tav'ikt felt a sinking sensation in his stomach as he looked upon the mother of his child, and with his head down low, he dropped his fist, waiting for Wave to say something, anything.<p>

"Pearl is here." was all Wave could whisper, his heart aching as he looked upon the father of his son. So young, so heart broken, so full of the will to prove his worth to his son. "What are you doing here?" he somehow managed to get past the choking lump in his throat, find the will to breathe past the suffocating ache within his chest.

"Please forgive me Honored One, I..." his voice failed him. His mind in shock. The Hunters were none other than his offspring's mother and family! How could this happen! He couldn't let this happen, not now! Not ever! "I must speak with you most urgently. It is about the...the human hunt." he manages to find his voice to speak, glancing over at Ohni, wondering when the Veil would become active again, and her or his mind would once again become controlled by the machine. To him, she was as a sister, he couldn't let Mat'tkt hurt her, and yet, she and the others had been brought here to be Hunted. "Please." he whispered, almost dishonoring himself further by begging the mother of his child.

It was Ahnk grabbing his shoulder, which galvanized Wave into responding. "Wait," he said to his brother, "What is so important that you barge into our camp, fighting another male over a female?"

Gathering his courage, he whispers "It is about the Hunt, please, I do not wish to alarm."

"What does our hunt have to do with you and that male, fighting over that female?" Wave whispers harshly, pointing to a now unconscious Mat'tkt, and a rather amorous Ohni, who couldn't take her eyes off of Uhlsa, although her rather obvious appreciation of the male form was seen by the three.

Taking a page from Mat'tkt's book of "Stupid Yet Effective Things To Say", Tav'ikt replies, "Everything." even he was surprised at how effective that word was, as Wave practically yanked him and Ahnk towards the shuttle where the children were still standing in open mouthed awed at the Lure Meat. And as the adults barged past the children, Pearl spoke up.

"Honored..."

"No!"

"But we..."

"Back." Wave replies pointing to Pearl's room.

"Please!" the girls add.

""Sham!" Wave yells, pointing to the kids, while literally dragging Pearl's Sire behind him, Ahnk bringing up the rear with an unconscious Mat'tkt over his shoulder like so much meat.

"Over here kids!" Sham replies, much to the children's glee.

"Yay!" say all 4 as they happily dart over to the monster that had nearly wrecked the camp.

Meanwhile, Shorty was taking pictures, while trying to figure out how to get the skull in the wrecked ship, Machiko and Izzy were helped to their feet by Tammarhee and Tavarhee, while Royce helped Topknot to his feet, him having been knocked flying into a tree by the Luremeat while keeping the girls safe.

"Wow!" was all the kids could say as they got a real close look at the monster.

"Yeah." Shorty replies with a little bit of pride.

* * *

><p>In the mean time, close by, yet not in contact with everyone, Sister Paya had begun to set up camp for the tent revival. Now, not everyone knew who Sister Paya was, since she was the Yautla equivalent of a traveling preacher, but those who have been to her sermons, swear you could see the flames of Cetanu burn in her very eyes. While the Holy Paya choir practiced, she took one more look around, and with the perkiness of a Southern Baptist-Charismatic-Pentacostal-Tabernacle-Catholic decided that everything was ready, and sent out an open invitation for service for everyone in these trying times. She was always amazed at the response, especially since she did not discriminate in her invites. Even the Lords take time out to Soul Hunt.<p>

The armed humans on the other hand, had finally decided it was time to "move out" so to speak, and began to head towards our hero's and Sister Paya's camps. Even the Streake brought little Mikey and his mom to the sermon, since he had met and married all of his wives at her sermons.

* * *

><p>On board the shuttle, Wave couldn't believe how much it had hurt when he had seen Tav'ikt fighting the male now known as Mat'tkt over the now revealed as human Ohni.<p>

"You what?" he was in the process of yelling, since the room they were in had a closed door and he didn't have to worry about anyone hearing him at the moment.

"I helped "Gather" the prey! I didn't know it wasn't The Hunt!" he answered.

"What do you mean?" Ahnk replied, reaching out a hand to his brother's shoulder in an effort to calm Wave down before he punched Pearl's Sire's lights out, forcing them to wait for what he was trying to say.

"My Hunt Leader got a message from a Hish vessel, requesting humans for a hunt. He sent us to earth to gather the prey, and while we were there, decided that he wanted to use them to set a trap."

"And you just went along with it." Wave's voice cracked. "How could you!" he hissed in barely controlled rage.

"Please, Wave, calm yourself. Yelling at him isn't going to change things. At least he was able to warn us ahead of time." Ahnk spoke softly with the voice of reason.

"I didn't know it was your ship." Tav'ikt spoke, wanting nothing more than to die at the moment. The look of betrayal in Wave's eyes worse than a knife in his heart, wishing nothing more than to be able to go back in time and leave sooner, knowing that if he could, he still wouldn't change anything. "You know the law as well as I, I could not refuse. All I could do was wait until I knew for certain murder was the intent, not a simple raid."

"And the female?" Wave asks, the pain in his heart making him less reasonable, wanting to know, yet dreading what he is going to hear.

"She was one of those we gathered. She wrecked her earth truck trying to avoid killing anyone. Our Hunt Leader thought it would be hilarious to use her as bait, since she is so small, almost child sized." he finally looked Wave in the eye, "I couldn't let her die. I couldn't stop the others tho," his words became disjointed at the sight of Wave's heartache. "She has a Veil. It caught me and it wasn't until something knocked it off line was I able to get her to leave."

At his words, even Ahnk gasped in shock. The only working Veil that either of them knew about, was the Veil on board the clan ship. It belonged to Ocean, and all the children of the clan were raised within it's protective environment until old enough to be left unattended for any length of time.

"That's not all that was done to her," he stumbled, "The other's, even children were culled. I don't know how many were gathered, but some did not survive. We dropped several groups of armed humans to make it look like it was challenging, so that the Hunters wouldn't suspect anything." he choked out.

Wave was furious, not only was his offspring's Sire admitting to Bad Blood behavior, he was trying to justify it by claiming ignorance!

"What is the female to you, that you would fight the other." Ahnk asked, pointing to a now regaining consciousness Mat'tkt.

"She is my sister." Tav'ikt spoke, his emotions towards Ohni having been permanently altered by the Veil. "He hates humans, I won't let him hurt her!"

"WHHAA!" Wave started to roar, as the door suddenly opened, admitting Uhlsa, who had brought Ohni on board, since he needed to speak with Tav'ikt. She quickly rushed to Tav'ikt's side, before stepping behind him, at the glare of hatred from Wave.

"Tav'ikt?" she whispered.

"Shhh." he replies.

"What.." was as far as Uhlsa could get, Wave's barely suppressed rage slamming into his senses like a sledge hammer.

"Please wait outside, I will be with you shortly." Tav'ikt speaks softly to Ohni.

"Ok. I can't find Rose." Ohni whispered, wondering which male would like to have fun until the cows came home.

"We'll look for her, but please, I need you to wait outside." Mat'ikt gently assured her, before pushing her gently towards the door.

Nodding, Ohni slipped past, looking over her shoulder at the males, with a delicate come hither look, before disappearing around the corner.

Before Uhlsa could ask, Wave repeated everything Tav'ikt had said leading up to his and Mat'tkt's fight in the middle of camp.

* * *

><p>It was Sham looking around, who realized that the poor helpless feline was still cowering under the table, and at the same time as he noticed her, Ohni saw her cat, Ohni reached her first.<p>

"Rose!" she cried out in relief, immediately ducking under and snatching up her "Baby". "Rosey, I thought I had lost you!" Rose couldn't have been happier either, and immediately went limp like a good baby in her mothers arms.

Sham wasn't sure how to take such a happy reunion, until Ohni looked up at him, "Thank you for finding her, I thought I had lost her!" she spoke softly, looking down quickly, as a proper lady should, wondering where her home was, or if she had lost everything again, before glancing up at Sham rather appreciatively.

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to those in camp, the Veil had slowly begun to come back online, and the Guardian Program was the first program to become operational, and so using the locator beads, the plant began to slither and walk through the forest, heading towards the camp and it's charges.<p>

* * *

><p>As for B'ket, blending into the background as if he were nothing more than a humble hunter of the party, no-one noticed as he began to check out the camp and those in it. More and more, not believing his luck, especially if all could be captured and brought back to the camp, he quietly motioned his companions in closer as he slipped away, the beginnings of a plan starting to formulate.<p>

"We are going to church and that's final!" Wave was roaring, as he, Uhlsa, Ahnk, Mat'tkt, and Tav'ikt returned to the camp from the ship.

Everyone, including the humans looked at him as though he had finally lost what was left of his sanity.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not dressed for Church Day School." Shorty smarted off.

"I said everyone." Wave replied, much calmer with narrowed eyes.

Looking over at Machiko, Shorty suddenly stood up straight and while projecting an air of prudishness, leaned over and said, "You heard him Woman!"

"ME?" Machiko squealed in a Japanese Fish Wife way, "Your the one who needs some religion!"

Izzy couldn't help but start laughing, which got Royce in on Shorty's side, "What are you laughing for? You probably don't remember what the inside of a mosque looks like!"

"What? And you have room to speak?" she said unconsciously taking up a Palestinian Market wife's voice, followed by a swipe at Royce's arm. "Mr, I haven't been to mosque-church since I started working for the government!"

Took Ahnk a bit to get his brain out of Cavemerai (caveman-samurai) mode.

And so, without much ado, the entire party found itself wearing Sunday Go Meeting clothes, even the humans. The kids on the other hand, had started a quiet conversation about projectile weapons vs. plasma pulse weapons, and what made a good first kill. Seems the girls had been on a winter vacation with Karen's dad, who had been taking the group up to the cabin to hunt for moose and elk. Pearl couldn't believe the girls had already bagged their first game.

* * *

><p>Although the "Women Folk", as Shorty teased, were still trying to figure out how Ohni could walk in stiletto shoes in the forest, the girls just couldn't resist discussing knobby knees, boney elbows, grab-able bottoms, built physics, and the attachment all men have... a brain. Much to the chagrin of some of the men folk who had taken up formation around the women and children.<p>

"I will have you know, my brain is not an attachment!" Shorty spoke up, putting on an air of offended offrontedness.

"You sure about that?" Ohni replied, not quite able to keep a laugh from her voice.

"Yes, I mean, I've seen how hard you can add." Machiko piped up, stressing the word hard.

"Gasp! What do I look like! A theoretician? Woman, your lucky I know what the ships start up sequence is!" Shorty replied, acting surprised.

"Well, that would explain your piloting skills." Izzy smarmed.

"AHH! Ahhh! Hey!" Topknot added! "What am I, chopped meat?"

"Meat on a hook to me." Ohni said looking at Topknot like she was going to take him home for a snack.

"Hey! Leave them alone!" Royce piped up, as the girls giggled.

"Awww, feeling left out?" Izzy teased.

Royce suddenly had the feeling he was on the receiving end all of a sudden. "Ummm, No!"

"You tell her brutha! Us Men Folk got to stick together!" Tamarrhee quipped.

"Yeah!" piped up Tavarhee. " Us men folk got to stick together! Isn't that right Claw!"

"Huh? Don't bring me into this! I got rights to you know!" Claw quips back.

Ohni couldn't resist, "Oh really?" while looking at him as though she were taking him home.

"Yes," gulps Claw, realizing he just backed himself into a corner.

"What are they?" Izzy adds, feeling bold enough to goggle Claw as though he were fresh meat at the butchers.

"As soon as he knows, you'll be the second one to know!" Tosses in Hawk, wiggling an eyebrow at Izzy.

Everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter at that response, and even though a light blush tinged Claw's cheeks, the good natured teasing continued, easing a lot of the hidden strain the adults of the group had been feeling, being in so much mixed company. And as the conversation turned to other things, none of which would upset the children, the party soon found itself entering the grounds of the Tent Revival.

* * *

><p>During this time, B'ket and his group, had joined up with the remaining members of Tav'ikt's original group, and that party set about trapping the Hish camp. It had been decided to split the spoils 5050. The spoils being the individuals and technology.

* * *

><p>Now if one has had a chance to actually visit a good old fashioned Tent Revival, one would know that most folks don't really go for the preaching, most go for the food. As for those who go to a Tent Revival hosted by Sister Paya, on the other hand, folks will tell you that not only was the preaching good, so was the food!<p>

And so, once the tents were filled with folks, the good Sister didn't hesitate in getting started. And boy howdy did she get started!

"Can I get a great big Hello!" She cried to the audience.

"Hello!" the audience belted back!

"Praise the Lord everyone! I am so glad all of you could make it! If you will please be seated, we will start with the First Prayer!" she responded.

Once the audience was seated, Sister Paya bowed her head, and just as she was to begin the opening prayer, in burst the armed Humans!

"This is a hold up!" yelled the leader, shooting his shotgun off in the air, making some of the more lady like members of the audience squeal in shock and surprise.

"Please Sir! This is a house of the Lord! Violence is unnecessary here!" Sister Paya said, trying to keep the congregation calm.

"Did you hear that boys? This here is a House of the Lord!" the leader replied nastily, bringing chuckles from his cohorts. "Well, now Preacher Lady, since this is the Lords House, why don't you step down off'n that there podium, and bring the Lords money with you!"

Now one thing you don't do at a Tent Revival, is insult the House of the Lord, or demand the Lords Money. Sister Paya was more than happy to oblidge. Looking heaven ward, she grasped her hands together, and as she slowly lowered her gaze to look right at the brigand, who had moved closer to the stage, spoke in a strong voice, as she closed the distance. "Lord, grant me the strength to bring thine enemies into the great and glorious light that is your salvation."

Once she was close enough, and the brigand ready to reach out and grab her, Sister Paya hollored for all to hear, even as the Hallelujah Paya choir broke open their song books, and began to hum a hymn before bursting into song. "Bow down before the Lord thine God!" she began, followed with a punch to the brigands gut, and calmly began to proceed to teach him the error of his ways, the whole while continuing to pray, ending with a most beautiful upper cut, and the words, "Supplicate yourself before the Lord thy Savior so that she may know you repent of the sins of your ways!" and as the brigand hit the earth, flat on his back, the entire congregation stood up, holloring, "Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen!" before sitting again, and taking up the choirs song with them.

As for the rest of the brigands, well, seeing their great and illustrious leader brought to justice, dropped their weapons, and took off, much to the glee of the rather more blood thirsty hunters sitting in the audience. Suffice it to say, not even Royce could complain about the Potluck afterwards, especially since no-one could state for certain, whether that was people meat, or just some rather large and juice ribs! Sham on the other hand, swore up and down, the chili was the best chili he had ever eaten, shy of what he could get from earth, which was just short of his mother's home cooking.

* * *

><p>As for Ohni, she wasn't the only one spiking the fruit punch. After all, even the holy rollers needed a little something to get them to loosen up. Sister Paya didn't say a word, but she definitely let Ohni know she knew. Claw suspected something, but it wouldn't be until the group had arrived back at camp, and he had downed ½ a pitcher of his favorite fruit spritzer, and had a little trouble with his dancing bells, did he figure out what she had done. By then, Machiko and Izzy were well on their way through the other half of the pitcher, while Ohni just sipped her glass, looking all innocent.<p>

* * *

><p>While the apparent disregard for ones current situation, may seem most inappropriate, especially if one is both out of space, as well as out of time, when one stops to think about it, what can one do? In the case of our illustrious time travelers, since none of them have either the training or technical know how, worrying about how to get home, pales in comparison to the current situation of when the proverbial other shoe is going to fall.<p>

It was during the pot luck meal break, before the singing and closing prayer of the Revival, that Topknot was able to fill Machiko in on just what his people knew about the Hish. Suffice it to say, it wasn't good news, and although there was the ship, technically, the small crew owed it's life both to the Hish, as well as the Humans, which Machiko pointed out, might just be the saving grace they needed to stay on the Hish's good side, especially since all 3 had seen the Elite's Trophy Room on the small RV.

For Royce and Isabelle, seeing the obvious humanity of the peoples that up until now, had been the monsters let free from the closet, strangely brought more of a separation to them, instead of bringing them closer. The reason was something so simple, so insidious, that it would be much later before either began to see culture shock in the other. Something so obvious, you would expect it on Earth, with dynamically similar, yet different cultures, not in uncharted space with a race so physically similar, that the differences in physical appearance stand out. Perhaps, it was the very differences, that hid the similarities, making both almost forget that the ones who had hunted them were just as human as the Humans.


	11. Chapter 11

And while our time travelers were worrying about what would happen next, in a time zone close to them, yet out of time from the normal flow of time, a Time Warrior by the nickname of "Squeaky", was calmly, yet frantically digging through old clan archives. It didn't help that the dusty old data disc's made him sneeze like a squeaky mouse, some of his more lung busting sneezing actually made his equipment belt fall off a hip! Not that his balls on the back were helping any either.

And so, hitching up his waistband, to avoid looking like the Cooler Repairman, Squeaky finally found what he was looking for, and immediately returned to his desk at Headquarters. Recent rumors had spoken of a flux in time, that might be related to the long ago unsolved murders of the heirs to the Ocean Hish Clan, and the total annihilation of the Hunting System that the group had gone hunting at.

* * *

><p>For a race as old as his, with the technological advances gifted and created by his, you could not traverse and explore space the way his race did, without having the occasional mistake with time happen. And so, working like any good investigative officer, he began with the first disc, the one with the footage of the wave as it began to spread forth from the area of a newly formed wormhole. It wasn't until his partner thumped a heavy archive book of the missing individuals down in front of him, did Squeaky realize just how absorbed he had been in his work.<p>

"Haven't you heard a word I said?"

"Umm, sorry, these old data disc's are a bit grainy."

"I found the Missing Persons Archive records from the Hunter Planet incident. What do you want with this old case anyway? It's one of the first cases we ever worked on as a Unit. This thing is never going to get solved."

"Oh now come on! Don't be so depressing! Technology has advanced since the last time this case was reopened, and besides, we weren't the ones working on the case in the beginning, now were we." Squeaky replied. "We've solved harder ones than this one."

"You've solved harder ones than this one, me, I'm just along for the ride. Sometimes I wonder if your Ooman genes aren't the reason you see things most of us miss." Bet Karh's and Shesh Kuk's great offspring, Shesh Bet gently teased his friend, Benwerrin, allowing one long lock to fall enticingly over his shoulder and partially obscure his face.

"Don't blame my genes for your poor detective skills." Isabelle and Wave's offspring, Squeaky, joked with his partner, as both sipped cups of hot beverages imported from Earth. Seems that little blue planet of prey actually had something his society wanted almost as much as the joys of returning home with an Ooman skull. Looking over at his partner, Squeaky smirked, sometimes Shesh could be a little too enticing in his normalicy. "Your the one who came from the shoot'm first, count skulls later parentage."

"Yeah, don't remind me." Shesh replied with a sigh. Sometimes coming from Warrior stock, had its disadvantages. Especially when it came to being accepted for ones brains, not just ones genes. "So," he said quickly changing the subject as the duo's superior walked in the room, "Where do you want to start?"

"The honorable Ancients Ocean, Centanu, and Oceans offspring, Ancient Ahnnan are still alive, maybe we can look over their depositions from the original disappearance, and see if anything pops up that might have slipped their minds. Especially if we let them know we don't care how small or insignificant it is."

"Maybe, if we can get an audience with them. The last report mentioned it might have been politically motivated."

"I know."

Squeaky was interrupted as the Elder in charge, suddenly banged on a desk, demanding everyone's attention as he gathered the groups around him, starting to go over the day's assignments.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on said missing planet, the group of heroes had finally made it back to camp safe and sound, and while the trio of cousins began to set up the camp for some entertainment, and Ohni spiked Claw's favorite drink, especially for the girls, Sham pulled Royce over for a serious talk as to what his plans were, especially since both he and Izzy had survived their first season with minds intact.<p>

At first, Royce was reluctant to speak to Sham, until Sham explained that hunting and being hunted, were merely the result of being alive, yet due to his status as honored prey, his relationship with Isabelle, which was not so unobserved as Royce might want to pretend, as a man, what were his goals, his intentions. Still unsure of what Sham meant, still not sure if he could trust someone who thought of him as merely an animal fit only for hunting, Royce, slowly at first, then with more conviction, began to speak. He spoke of how he and the others had been brought here, of how his companions, some from the worst side of society, had shown indomitable spirit, surprising him. He spoke of how he and the group had gone back to the camp and tried to rescue the alien who had been left chained to the totem, of how it/he had agreed to return them to earth for freeing him.

At this point in his narration, Sham had interrupted, asking if he was positive the young male had understood Royce's request carried an end to his obligation for his life, or if Royce knew the one he had freed had been innocent of a crime.

Royce had shook his head "No, he acted like he understood what we were asking. He even showed me a map of my planet, and pointed to his ship."

"What happened to the ship?" Sham asked.

"It blew up before I could get to it, so I went back to the camp, and found Izzy at the mercy of a serial killer." Royce replied.

"What is a serial killer?" Sham asked "I do not understand the word."

looking at Sham, Royce smiled sadly, deciding on the short explanation. " A serial killer in my language is someone who kills merely for the pleasure of the kill."

"We call those individuals "Killers" in mine. They are considered worse than a Bad Blood" Sham had replied. "No honor."

Royce nodded in agreement, continuing when Sham asked him to continue his tale. Clearing his throat, Royce picked up where he had left off, recounting the final fight with the last alien, and how he and Izzy had barely survived. Yet, the flood gates had been opened, and as tears fell from Royce's eyes, he looked at Sham, "Is there any way we can go home?"

Sham looked at Royce, "I don't know. The council will have to be notified. Most prey brought here, has been carefully chosen, not just for the honor of the hunt, but because that person is not innocent."

"I understand. Maybe if not me, at least maybe Izzy can go home." He replied, looking over at the girls who were sitting around watching as Claw entertained them with a short improv dance.

"The council will be the ultimate deciding force." Sham comforted, smiling as he watched Claw smarm off to the girls. "Hmmm, maybe Claw will honor us with a Traditional dance for the girls tonight."

"Traditional Dance?" Royce asked?

"Yes. He is one of our clan's top dancers. We have dances for celebrations, ceremonies, winning a female, or merely for teaching of the past." Sham replied. "We are not as savage as we might appear."

Royce looked at Sham, wondering at that last cryptic remark, the tears which had begun to fall, had finally tapered off, leaving him drained.

"Come, let's see what we can pull together for dinner." Sham offered. Royce was stable, so was the female with him, yet he couldn't tell Royce what was happening with the hunts or challenges, to do so, would be to provide someone who considered himself an adult in any society, information on a society, with out the sense of adventure that went with meeting a new society for the first time. Plus all of them had survived most, if not all, of his adulthood trials.

* * *

><p>It was during dinner, when B'ket and what was left of Mah'tkt's comrades attacked the camp. Amongst them, another alien, much like the last one Royce and Izzy had fought and survived, grabbed Ohni, and quickly left. She being his goal, the other's merely a distraction. Izzy and Royce had immediately and instinctively protected the children as Machiko and her group, along with the other's stood their ground, and while there were injuries, the fatalities were on the raider's side.<p>

****Thank you for reading this current installment of the HishyQuinn Romance Series "Oomans!" Now onward to the recipies!*******


	12. Chapter 12

The fight itself was shocking. One minute, everyone had been sitting down to dinner, and the next, the trees literally exploded as the raiders charged the camp. Royce and Izzy immediately grabbed the children, pushing them towards the ship before any could begin to comprehend what was happening. Sham swung what-ever he had at hand as the first raider charged past him, heading for the table with the women and children, nailing the raider in a classic pole ax maneuver. Flying backwards, the raider hit the ground hard, leaping to his feet, he swung at Sham, before targeting him and shooting at him. Moving quickly, Sham ducked out of the way as the bolt struck the woods behind him. Smiling evilly, he hefted the heavy metal pan, and waving his opponent forwards, charged with a roar.

Royce and Izzy spun around once Pearl and the girls were back on board the ship, and as Pearl hit the shields, Royce grabbed a downed branch and with Izzy hot on his heels, ran back to the main part of the camp, just in time to see Ohni being snatched by a huge warrior who must have been close to 8.5 ft in height, and even as he swung at the closes raider, Ohni's scream pierced the air as her assailant bounded off in the trees.

Screaming, Mat'tkt and Tav'ikt charged the nearest raider together, and in a classic maneuver known on earth as "Taking down the receiver", slammed into the poor raider who was unfortunate enough not to move fast enough to get out of the way. Stabbing downwards quickly, Mat'tkt killed the raider, while Tav'ikt caught a glimpse of Ohni being snatched, disappearing in the trees.

"Ohni!" he yelled.

"Tav'ikt! Help!" she screamed, her cry quickly cut off as her capture knocked her out, his intent to take her captive, not back to the raider ship.

Unable to follow, being attacked by two more raiders, Tav'ikt and mat'tkt stood back to back, fighting blade to blade against the raiders.

By this time, Royce and Izzy had returned to the camp, and Royce, seeing Sham about to be stabbed through the back, swung the branch as hard as he could, aiming for a home run out of the stadium straight into the kidneys of the much larger raider that had ill intents in mind for Sham. The force of Royce's swing was so strong, the branch exploded from the impact, sending the now screaming raider to his knees, even as Sham spun, nailing his opponent with the frying pan, before grabbing up the knives from the food prep table, and showed just how deadly accurate he could be, even without his mask on.

All Izzy saw, was the sudden appearance of a shadow over her shoulder, then the lights went out. Machiko at least managed to get a groin shot in, before she too was knocked out and her capture quickly made off, joining up the Izzy's, heading back to the "Gather's" ship, both wondering what was taking Ohni's capture so long to catch up.

Wave saw the girls being taken by raiders, just before he was swarmed with five of the despicable beings, and with a smirk upon his face, showed the wayward souls, just why he was considered as immovable as a rock. And just like Mat'tkt, the first raider he hit, saw one beautiful delicate manicured balled up fist, before the lights disappeared in his universe. It didn't help that Uhlsa and Ahnk too, were having just as much fun, and with a laugh so reminiscence of the Monkey King himself, Uhlsa began to have fun taunting his opponents, beating them stupid, while somehow managing to not get hit, using nothing more than the handle of what had once been a broom.

Ahnk, on the other hand, allowed himself to be surrounded, and as the boldest of the raiders stepped forward, eyeballed the rest, before moving with a speed that made any hard meat jealous, cut loose with his wrist scythes, showing why he made Lone Wolf look slow on a good hair day.

Tavarhee and Tammarhee had managed to team up together, and while both were not as skilled as their cousins and friends, managed to take a few trophies of their own.

The cousins, seeing the girls being taken in two different directions, yelled out to Wave and Royce, that they had them, and took off chasing the raiders who had taken the girls.

"Follow! Don't engage!" Wave commanded in clan dialect, knowing that this was just a diversion to prevent them from following. He, as the eldest, would lead the rescue.

With barks of acknowledgment, the 3 took off, splitting up to follow each trail, Hawk and Paya soon joining up as two of the trails joined together, and Claw continued to follow the trail of the raider who had Ohni.

At about this time, the Temporal alarms started going off in the office where Shesh and Squeaky were working, warning of an internal temporal flux withing the agency itself! Such an occurance hadn't happened since the time the agency had been established, and as each warrior quickly checked his partner, Shesh and Squeaky both suddenly felt ill as both realized the others temporal stability shield bands were suddenly glowing a bright blue, blinking on and off crazily as the personal time shields desperately worked, preventing the sudden disappearance of the wearer, or worse, something that no-one wanted to be the witness to the living demise of, since time flux's can have rather nasty results, the least of which, is something that once was a person, being turned inside out, joined with what ever happened to be near that person, including the floor!

"Alert! Alert! Temporal Warriors in danger! All personnel please activate station stabilizers! All Personnel, Activate Station Stabilizers!" a soft computer voice, sounding a lot like Ohni's translated voice rang out.

Responding as trained, Shesh and Squeaky both activated their work station stabilizers, even before the reality of the fact that this time, it was them that were soon to be on the wall of Hero's, if the puzzle of what was happening couldn't be solved in time!

Unbeknownst to the both of them, a warrior whose picture was on the wall as one of the founding fathers of the Temporal Warriors Society, disappeared, then reappeared! Looking old, even in his young age, the blond haired son of Ohni and her captures, RedFeather and Bat'tk, smiled down from his place on the wall. This phenomenon was how-ever observed by his great-great-great great grandchild, Squeaky and Shesh's shift boss, who, now having seen the families ghost story of the disappearing picture, realized that the hope of the entire agency, not just the universe, rested squarely on the shoulders of two of his most hard headed, stubborn, and intelligent warriors. For the very creation of the agency itself rested on some rather unusual circumstances, and unbeknownst to the both of Shesh and Squeaky, sometimes, it is the unfortunate events, that lead to the most fortunate of circumstance. Now, how to inform his best investigators that the fates of not just the universe, but the agency itself rested squarely on both their shoulders...

****Thank you for reading this current installment of the HishyQuinn Romance Series "Oomans!" Now onward to the recipies!*******


	13. Chapter 13

Royce couldn't believe it, one second he was tackling a raider to the ground, the next, he was flying into a tree sideways so hard, he heard more than felt the sickening crunch as several of his ribs broke, and even as he looked up, never taking his eyes off the "enemy" so to speak, saw Izzy being stolen by what looked like non other than Mr. Black!

He heard Wave issue a command, and the cousins take off, following the Raiders who had the girls, then almost before his brain could catch up with his body, Sham was pulling him to his feet, even as a plasma bolt struck right where he had been a brief moment before. Grabbing another frying pan, back to back, he and Sham took up stance, even as the Raiders began to flee. Sham grabbed his arm, preventing him from following, even as Wave commanded everyone to stay put. He was not taking chances that this was a trap to prevent the rescue of the females. Unsure of what was going on, Royce looked to Sham for guidance.

"The cousins are following, they are good as gathering information, let them find out where the females are being taken, and we can then mount a rescue. Please, you are good at fighting, let cooler heads prevail." Sham whispered to Royce, even as he began to treat his wounds. The pause, now bringing Royce's ribs to his attention with a pain so fierce, he swayed slightly on his feet, wishing he had seen the incoming foot a lot sooner than he had.

Luckily for Izzy, the real Mr. Black had heard the fighting, and as he shook the fuzzies from his mind, wondering why he was back from the dead, saw the raiders run past his camp, followed by the cousins. Recognizing Izzy as the female he had punished for interfering in his fight with the human male brought to the preserve for hunting, his curiosity spiked, and he, along with his companions, quickly followed. None of them noticed the slight sparkling effect of a temporal cloak, as the figures of Shesh and Squeaky came into view.

"I hate blipping!" Squeaky muttered as he and Shesh uncloaked.

"You always hate blipping, it reminds you too much of that time you had to blip to avoid becoming a grease spot from that high rise the first time you started working for the agency." Shesh teased.

"Please don't remind me, I though I would never slow down fast enough to land!" Squeaky chuckled as he checked the coordinates on his wrist comp. "Looks like this is the Hunter camp from the intell." he added.

"Good, maybe we can solve several disappearances at once, but you still haven't told me how we're going to get your parents together long enough to...well, you know..." Shesh said.

"I'm still working on it. I can't believe my parent's are mixed up in this mess!"

"I can't believe your mother was once hunted prey." Shesh said.

"Neither can I, she always seemed to upstanding!"

"Goes to show, we don't always know what our parents were up to before we were born." Shesh said, carefully stepping over the body of an impaled human in combat fatigues and holding some rather nasty firearms.

"Yeah, makes you wonder what your offspring will be saying about you after your old and retired." Squeaky chuckled, scanning the area, and finding fresh prints heading away from camp. "I got a heat trail, prints are heading off in that direction."

With that, the duo headed out, following the trail left behind by Mr. Black and his companions as the trio took off following the Raiders.

It didn't take long before the cousins realized that the Raiders had come from Mat'tkt's old ship, and falling back, and cloaking, softly crept forward, slipping like ghosts through the trees, the trio of Hunters, led by Mr. Black, did the same thing, not wanting to alert the group following the group with the women, that the group was being followed by himself and his companions. The Raiders on the other hand, were having a little fun of their own with a few of the captive females, and wouldn't have noticed a bomb being dropped in the middle of camp.

The females, Izzy and Machiko, were unceremoniously dropped next to a Captive pole, and bound hand and foot with a strange silver rope. A guard, looking rather drunkenly, took up position with his back to the girls and some rather dense brush. This would soon work in their favor, since the pole itself was somewhat off to the side of the camp, out of the middle, where a ring had been set up, and some of the raiders were wagering as several combatants fought in the center.

Izzy soon woke up, her head splitting from the blow she had received. Looking over, she spied Machiko, who too was beginning to rouse. Izzies training as a soldier kicked in, and she began to glance around, taking account of the camp, and it's denizens. Machiko, whose only training had been Hunting, and some training in hand to hand on board Topknot's ship, did the best she could to assess her surroundings as well. Recognizing the type of rope used to bind them, she tried to get Izzy's attention, before she could set off any alarms the rope might have attached.

"Pssst, Izzy, don't move..." She whispered, hoping the guard didn't notice that they were awake.

Izzy looked at Machiko and nodded, as Machiko pointed at the ropes around their wrists with a finger, wondering what was so important about not moving the rope.

She soon got an answer, as one of the females previously captured was dragged out, and tied to a pole similar to theirs in the middle of camp. Struggling, she ropes only tightened around her wrists, and soon began to squeal, even as the female screamed, struggling against her bonds. This only made her captures laugh, and one of the men slapped her hard across the face with enough force to make Izzy wince in pain for the female's plight. She could also here the cries of another as several males took pleasure with her body.

"We have to escape..." she started to whisper, as her head was suddenly pushed down, and the sound of a neck snapping in front of her was heard, sending a chill up her spine, since she didn't even hear whoever it was that had walked up, pushed her head down, and took out the guard. Glancing up, she received an even bigger shock, as Mr. Black uncloaked, taking up the now empty position of the guard.

Glancing over at the girls, he turned back forward, slouched, and hand signed behind his back that they were to keep their heads down, even as the air rippled to either side of him, his companions spreading out into the camp. "spread out, stay cloaked and don't engage with the others." he commanded soflty as his partners began to move with a grace and silence, that even a more experienced warrior might have thought was merely the sun dappling through the trees. "Watch your steps." was his last caution.

Izzy thought her heart was going to stop, as she heard his words, not realizing that Ohni had placed Veil beads in her hair to make translations easier while the girls had made up each others hair for church. Glancing over at Machiko, she saw her motion for Izzy to lower her head slightly more, so that even though her head was properly down, she still could look around.

"Izzy..." Machiko whispered in Topknots clan dialect, only to have a low soft warning growl come from Mr. Black, right as a group of rather unsavories staggered up to oggle the new captures.

"Boss's gonna love this, those stupid idiots brought back a couple of Oomans!" one spoke

"Yeah, what's he gonna do with stupid animals anyway? Sell'm?" his companion sniggered.

"He'd be lucky to even get a pretty penny for them, Oomans are worthless, don't even make good slaves, always runn'n away, break'n stuff, and the females..." the third started, while looking the girls up and down in such a manner, that Izzy felt dirty just having him look at her.

"Enough, step away from the captives, before the Boss gets pissed that you fools ruined the merchandize." Mr. Black slurred, taking a menacing step forward.

"Easy brother, we ain't touching the merch until the Boss says we can." the first spoke up, waving his arms in a placating manner. "Side's, with Oomans, it wont be long before he gives'm to us any ways."

"Until then, mind your manners." Mr. Black spoke.

"Stuck up." one of the group muttered as the screams of the female tied to the pole caught the groups attention. "Let's go, he ain't gonna let us have some fun with'em, got his nose stuck up the  
>Boss's rear end." raucus laughter followed the group as they wandered off in look of better entertainment.<p>

Mr. Black merely smiled an evil little smile behind his mask, if only they knew. He began to set his auto targeter for his shuriken to target the group members having entirely too much fun with a hapless she, who from her cries, was not consenting to her use. Let the fools test him, over these. Even though they were technically prey to him, the thought of forcing a female, irregardless of species disgusted him and his companions.

Shesh and Squeaky could only look at each other in surprise, having overheard what had transpired. The duo had just arrived at the camp in time to watch as the last group began to infiltrate, and the first took up different positions around the outside, it seemed that both had the intent of scouting out the camp. "Now what?" Shesh whispered, every nerve in him screaming to aid the female being used.

"Now we wait." Squeaky whispered, lightly touching his partner's arm, knowing how hard it was for Shesh to ignore the pleas of a female, having it ingrained since before he was hatched, that such crimes were forbidden.

By this time, Claw had caught up with Ohni's captures, and silently cursed as she was carried inside the small skiff. Sending a short message to Paya, he informed his cousin of what and where.

"Stay put, we're at the main camp, it's a lot larger than Mat'tkt originally thought. Observe, and if chance transpires..."

"Got it." Claw sent, this was going to take a bit, he thought, settling down to wait.

As soon as he could, Paya sent Wave the intel on the layout of the camp. The Raiders had landed several medium and small lander craft off the main ship, and the camp was sprawled out without any obvious signs of order. There must have been several hundred scattered around the forest. Finding the girls, and rescuing the other females, would be...well...finding a queen egg in a mature hive full of hard meat would be easier!

And as Royce was called to gather with the rest, it was Sham who counseled patience. Wave had decided, that although the lesser warriors had the experience to go up against the camp, it would be in the best interests of those needing rescue, if the more experienced ones actually entered the camp, with the less experienced ones taking up positions outside, creating the diversions so to speak, for getting into a Raider camp was a whole lot easier, than getting out alive.

Royce asked if he could help with the diversions outside, since scouting was his specialty on earth. Wave thought about it briefly, then nodded. "Remember, although the enemy is of a different species, treat this as you would any engagement with the enemy."

Royce nodded in understanding, knowing that if Wave had ordered him to remain behind as a liability, he would not have been able to logically argue his inclusion, and could possibly jeopardize Izzy's life if he went it alone. He might not like being relegated to the rear so to speak, but it was better than not being able to do anything at all.

Wave quickly broke everyone up into groups of two. He, Uhlsa, and Ahnk would enter at one end, Paya and Hawk at another point, Royce and Sham would take up points in a different area, with the brothers and Tav'ikt and Mat'tkt positioned somewhere inbetween. And while this might not cover the entire camp, it could concentrate the diversion in such an area, that hopefully, it would draw most of the camp away from the women. Topknot and Shorty would slip in, and scout inside after dark, being more warrior and less hunter in movements, the cover of darkness could hide any misstep that might be seen during the daylight hours. Wave agreed, and teamed Royce and Sham up with Topknot and Shorty, with Topknot in charge. It actually made logical sense, when Royce found out that Topknot used to train Hunters and Warriors, and was used to leading a group unfamiliar with each other.

At the appointed time, all left camp, Wave having informed Pearl and the girls to remain inside the ship, under cloak and shield, on lock down. Nothing in, nothing out. Just like he would do if the mother ship were under attack and the children would have to take shelter on board. Pearl nodded, giving his parent a brave smile, inside scared out of his mind, yet as he looked at the girls, he realized that just like the little ones he had been put in charge of during drills, they too were counting on him, and it made him feel a lot easier about being left alone.

"I will, Honored Parent." he said bowing.

Wave shook his shoulder, and turning strode off, joining the last group to leave. All who had it, were wearing full combat hive armour, while those who didn't, had been outfitted to the best of his ability. Royce's com unit had been patched into Sham's, and Topknot had given Royce a working rundown of how the armor, personal shield and weaponry worked together.

Topknot almost requested leaving Royce behind, since his familiarity was about as familiar as that of an unblood, yet Royce quickly caught on, much as Machiko had, and Topknot knew Royce could at least guard his back, much as the feisty little human female had done, shortly after he brought her onboard.

"Try not to shoot your own foot off." was his last instructions to Royce, given with an almost lopsided grin. "The targeting system was set for long blink, since you don't have tusks to tap the controls with."

Grinning, Royce agreed."Wouldn't want to fill out the paperwork on that one."

"No" Shorty smarmed, "The last time it was in triplet to the triplets."

Topknot groaned,"Don't remind me!"

Laughing soflty, Royce was beginning to have hope that maybe, getting Izzy back and getting off the planet, if not home, wasn't such an impossibility after all.

*********Thank you for reading this installment if the HishyQuinn Romance Series "Oomans!" and just in time for the holiday's, rather than post a new recipe, please find this Patience Project Ornament for the holidays instead. It is titled "A Starry Night" and can be found at deviantart under littleprincesstruckn***********

Thank You, And Happy Holidays! ^.^


	14. Chapter 14

Just a short update note, I have not abandoned this story, between running hard behind the wheel over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and into the early part of January, I haven't had time to pick up where the story has left off, I am slowly working on getting our illustrious heroes out of the proverbial frying pan again ^.^

Thank you,

Little Princess


End file.
